Abstract: This article presents a model of rainflow amplitude distribution of a limited band white noise process and an estimation method of parameters in an attempt to provide fatigue life prediction for a structure under limited band white noise loading in the frequency domain. The rainflow amplitude was assumed to conform to biparameter Weibull distribution; the shape parameter is linear with the bandwidth coefficient; the scale parameter exhibits a proportionate relationship with the root mean square, and the scale factor is linear with the irregular factor. The results of numerical simulation show that Weibull distribution can very well describe the rainflow amplitude distribution of a limited band white noise process and that the distribution parameters can be calculated using the spectral parameters.

Key words: structural fatigue, random processes, limited band white noise, rainflow amplitude distribution, power spectral density