David Henderson

David is the Director of the Cyclone Testing Station in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at James Cook University. Prior to his appointment as Director, David was the CTS Research Fellow. During this period he was seconded as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, where he was collaborating on the 3LP full scale house testing research project in the simulation of realistic wind loads impacting full scale timber framed housing. This is a continuation of his previous foundation involvement with this world leading facility in 2005/6.

David undertook his doctoral research in 2006 to 2010, investigating the impact of cyclonic wind loading on low rise building envelopes.

Prior to being awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship through an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, David was the Manager, for five years, of the CTS at JCU. He has over twenty years of experience as a research engineer conducting studies into low rise buildings and their components with the CTS. David has presented information seminars on disaster investigations and better building practices to designers, builders, manufacturers and insurers. He has substantial knowledge on wind induced fatigue failures of building elements and is intimately involved in the full scale house testing program and the CTS authored software for the computer controlled load and measurement systems.

David has conducted Post disaster surveys following severe wind events in cyclonic (WA, NT and North Qld) and non-cyclonic regions (NSW) as well as tornado damage investigations in Canada and earthquake damage assessments in NSW. With this unique background David led the CTS team in wind risk assessments for communities, which has included cyclone risk assessment incorporating evaluation of retro fitting options for communities in WA, and terrain category and wind risk assessment for large installations.

David has and is an invited speaker at international and national conferences and events. He has presented papers and chaired sessions at national and international conferences, and is a member of Standards Australia code committees. David has been interviewed on wind storm damage, building issues, etc for regional and national media. Prior to joining the CTS, David was a structural engineer with a consulting firm in Townsville and Sydney.