JDH Consulting
6 Charman Rd. Mentone Victoria Australia 3194.
Ph: +61 3 9584 5885

 

JOHN HOLMES BECOMES EDITOR OF AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
In early 2006 Dr. John Holmes was invited to become the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal ‘Wind and Structures’ published by Techno Press of Korea. This journal publishes issues every two months with fully-reviewed papers on the structural engineering aspects of wind engineering (http://technop.kaist.ac.kr/journalPage.jsp).

Recent consulting work :
Amongst the many varied consulting projects carried out by JDH Consulting, clients have been assisted with interpretation of anemometer recordings off the west coast of Africa, writing of wind-load specifications for a major new LNG plant in Western Australia, design of windbreaks for a transport terminal in Melbourne, Australia, vibration of louvres on a stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand, design loads for a water tank in Guam, design of spires on tall buildings in Abu Dhabi for wind loads, advice on the aerodynamic stability of a cable-stayed pedestrian bridge in Queensland, design wind speeds for Sakhalin Island off the Russian Pacific coast, and estimation of cyclonic wind loads on a shiploader at Gove, Northern Territory.

Wind research in the U,S.A. and Canada:
Dr. John Holmes has recently occupied short term Visiting Professor positions at Louisiana State University (U.S.A.) and the University of Western Ontario (Canada). At L.S.U. he was awarded the John P. Laborde Visiting Chaired Professorship and carried out research on the mechanics and aerodynamics of windborne debris in conjunction with the LSU Hurricane Center; he also gave a graduate course: 'Wind Loading and Response' in 2001 and 2003 (see also the web site http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu). At U.W.O. in 2006, John Holmes carried out research on severe convective downdraft winds in thunderstorms.

Standard, Codes and Design Guides :
Dr. John Holmes has played a major role in the Standards Australia sub-committee responsible for the re-drafting of the Australian and New Zealand Standard for wind loading that was issued in June 2002 as AS/NZS1170.2-2002, and is now the Chairman of the sub-committee responsible for the Standard. JDH Consulting has also written a Handbook :"Design Wind Speeds for the Asia-Pacific Region" (HB212), which provides representative design wind speeds to enable the AS/NZS to be used for wind load design of structures throughout the region. This document was published by Standards Australia in 2002. In June 2005, a "Guide to AS/NZS1170.2:2002" written by John Holmes and Andrew King was published (http://www.1170actions.com). This user-friendly guide to the Standard contains nine worked examples and answers to frequently-asked questions. More than 500 copies of this book have now been sold.

John Holmes has been instrumental in promoting international alignment of wind loading codes and standards, as convenor of Workshops in this area for the International Association of Wind Engineering. Three very successful International Wind Codification Workshops were held in Bochum, Germany, in September 2000, in Kyoto, Japan in October 2001, and in Lubbock, Texas in June 2003. Six working groups were set up to make recommendations for alignment in various areas of wind codes such as : terminology and format, extreme wind prediction, wind characteristics, low-rise structures, dynamic response. These groups have recently reported their findings and recommendations in the journal "Wind and Structures".
John Holmes has also been active participant in the APEC-WW meetings of representatives of Asia-Pacific economies involved with codes and standards on wind effects. Meetings have been held in Atsugi, Japan (November 2004), Hong Kong (December 2005), with the next planned for Delhi, India in November 2006.

Book on wind loading :
A general book on wind loading titled "Wind Loading of Structures" authored by John Holmes, and published by Spon Press of London, U.K. was published in June 2001 and reprinted in 2003. By the end of 2006 more than 1000 copies had been sold, and it has received excellent reviews. The book is intended for practising design engineers, as well as graduate and advanced undergraduate students. It is currently in use for teaching at several American universities, including Louisiana State, Texas Tech and the University of Texas. Further information is available from the Spon Press website: http://www.sponpress.com. The second edition of "Wind Loading of Structures" is in preparation - for publication in 2007.

Fatigue life estimation :
A new simple-to-apply methodology for estimation of fatigue life under wind loading has been developed. This has been written up as a paper for the journal 'Engineering Structures' (Vol.24, pp109-114, 2002) published by Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com). The methodology has been applied to several real design situations, and in investigations of failures.
Please contact Dr. John Holmes for more details.

New wind tunnel designed for Hong Kong:
JDH Consulting has recently designed a multi-purpose wind tunnel for the Department of Building and Construction at the City University of Hong Kong. Of open circuit configuration, the wind tunnel has been tailored to fit into a laboratory space of about 25 metres by 7 metres. Two working sections will be provided - one for building aerodynamics and one for sectional tests of bluff bodies and bridge decks. A large centrifugal blower will provide the airflow, with flow processing by a series of screens and a flow straightener in a settling chamber. Construction of the wind tunnel commenced in 2006.

Current Work