A simplified method of obtaining the response of structures from large data banks of wave power spectral densities

A statistical method using empirical orthonormal functions (EOF's) is presented for efficiently representing large data banks of archived nondirectional wave power spectral densities (PSD's). This reduced data set is used to obtain a displacement output probability density function of an offshore structure in response to a wave field. An example is presented thai utilizes five months of NOAA estimated wave spectra taken at 4-h intervals in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Structural Applications Software was developed to provide the output probability density function for any frequency band of interest without requiring the many tapes of original data. For nonlinear problems, a method of generating typical random wave data is discussed that will allow for Monte Carlo simulation.