Career Summary
Chris Letchford obtained his Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering with First Class Honours and University Medal from the University of Queensland in 1980. He was the inaugural winner of the Ove Arup Scholarship and worked for two years in the London Office of Ove Arup and Partners, Consulting Engineers. There he worked on the designs for the Britannia Leisure Centre, the Old Vic Theatre refurbishment, and the Menil Collection Museum in Houston under Peter Rice and Renzo Piano. He also spent 9 months as Resident Engineer.
After completing a doctorate in Wind Engineering at Oxford University as a Commonwealth Scholar he began his academic career at the University of Queensland in 1987. After developing a research program in Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Aerodynamics and reaching the level of Reader, Chris left Queensland to take up a Professorship at Texas Tech University in the US. During 8 years in the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center, he helped manage an annual research budget in excess of US$1million and developed several innovative simulators for thunderstorm downburst and tornado winds.
In 1997 Chris chaired the 4th Asia-Pacific Symposium on Wind Engineering on the Gold Coast and in 2003 he chaired the Technical and Scientific Committees of the 11th International Conference on Wind Engineering in Lubbock Texas. From 1995-1999 Chris was the Chair of the Australasian Wind Engineering Society (AWES) and from 2003-2006 he was a member of the Executive of the American Association of Wind Engineering. Currently he serves on the AWES Executive Committee.
In 2007 he was elected to be the Asia-Pacific Representative on the International Association of Wind Engineering. Chris is also a member of the American Association of Civil Engineers and sits on the Wind Effects, Aerodynamics and Tall buildings Committees.
He left Texas Tech University as Senior Associate Dean to take up the Head of School of Engineering at the University of Tasmania in 2007.
Current Projects
Wind over Waves – Dejiang Chen & Brian Zachry (Texas Tech University)
Wind directionality effects on structures and wind power prediction – Rolando Vega (Texas Tech University)
Wind-induced fatigue failure of traffic signal arm structures – Hector Cruzado (Texas Tech University)
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Research Interests
Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Aerodynamics
Wind Loads on Structures
Vortex-induced vibrations
Wind flow over topography
Wind Climatology
Thunderstorm downbursts and tornadoes
Debris flight mechanics
Experimental methods
UnitsSelected Publications:- Lin, Ning , John D. Holmes and Chris W. Letchford, 2007, 'Trajectories of Windborne Debris and Applications to Impact Testing', ASCE J. Structural Engineering, 133, 2, pgs. 274-282
- Mason, M.S., C.W. Letchford & D. L. James , 2005, 'Pulsed wall jet simulation of a stationary thunderstorm downburst, Part A: Physical structure and flow field characterization', JWEIA, (93) , pgs. 557-580
- Holmes, J.D., C.W. Letchford, & Ning Lin , 2006, 'Investigations of plate-type windborne debris II. Computed trajectories', JWEIA , 94 (1), pgs. 21-39
- Chen, L., & C.W. Letchford , 2006, 'Multi-scale Lateral Correlation Analyses of two lateral profiles of Full-Scale Downburst Wind Speeds', JWEIA, pgs. 675-696
- Letchford, C.W, 2006, 'Simulating Thunderstorm Winds for Engineering Applications', J. Wind and Engineering, pgs. 1-17
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