UC Berkeley

Non-stationary non-Gaussian random vibration problems of structures are challenging and drawing increasing attention. In the present study, firstly, an explicit time-domain method (ETDM) is proposed to determine the higher-order response statistics of linear systems subjected to non-stationary non-Gaussian random excitations, in which the first four orders of cumulants of dynamic responses are directly formulated through the cumulant operation rule based on the explicit expressions of responses. Secondly, an equivalent linearization – explicit time-domain method (EL-ETDM) is further developed to solve the non-stationary non-Gaussian random vibration problems of Duffing systems, in which the equivalent linear system is derived discarding the assumption of Gaussian response, and the corresponding higher-order cumulant analyses of the linearized system are accomplished by the efficient ETDM. The present approach can account for non-Gaussian random excitations with arbitrary forms, and two specific applications to the Poisson white noise and the square form of Gaussian random process are investigated. Four numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.