A tradition has developed over the several decades of IASMiRT conferences for awards to be made to recognise excellence in specific areas and to honour individuals who made major contributions in the field of structural mechanics and provided inspiration within the scope of SMiRT conferences.

Jaeger Lecture

The first established of the SMiRT awards is the Jaeger Lecture. Professor Thomas A Jaeger of the Berlin Technical University was the initiator of SMiRT conferences, starting in Berlin in 1971. Without his inspiration and foresight there would be no SMiRT conferences. Sadly he passed away at a very early age in 1980. His role was immediately recognised with the award of the Jaeger prize at SMiRT 6 in Paris in 1981. Initially this was awarded to a young contributor deemed worthy of the honour. Subsequently it has developed into the prestigious Jaeger Lecture, the author selected by each host country to expand on a topic of general and technical interest to the SMiRT community.

SMiRTLocationAuthorTitle
28TorontoDr Victor G Snell, McMaster UniversityNuclear Reactor Safety – Past, Present and Future
27YokohamaProf Noato Sekimura, University of TokyoLong Term Operation and Continuous Safety Improvements of Nuclear Power Plants
26BerlinFritz Henkel and Franz Schlueter, Woelfel Engineering and SMP respectivelyAirplane Impact on Nuclear Installations
25CharlotteDr Robert J. Budnitz, LLNL, NRCThe Methodology for Seismic PSA for Nuclear Facilities: Current Status and Future Developments
24Busan
23ManchesterProf Bob Ainsworth, University of ManchesterDefect Tolerance Arguments in Demonstrating Structural Integrity of Nuclear Power Plant Components
22San FranciscoHon George Apostalakis, NRC
21New DelhiProf Anil Kakodkar, Homi Babha InstituteInnovation of Nuclear Reactor Containment in India
20EspooProf Kim Wallin, Academy of FinlandDevelopment in Statistical Approach for Assessing Material Performance
19Toronto
9LausanneDr Pietre Roelfstra, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
8BrusselsAlan Combascure, CEA
7ChicagoProf Ted Bolytschko, Northwestern University
6ParisDr Ulrich Shumann, KFK Karlsruhe

Heki Shibata Early Career Award

The Early Career Award was re-introduced at SMiRT 23 in Manchester to recognise excellence among the papers submitted by qualifying early career participants. From SMiRT 24 onwards the Early Career Award was renamed in honour of Professor Heki Shibata, who was a major influence, particularly on seismic topics, from SMiRT 1 in Berlin right through to SMiRT 23 in Manchester.

SMiRTLocationRecipientPaper
28TorontoMarouane Lahmidi, CEAExperiment of ductile fracture propagation due to thermal shock using the Gfr criterion
27YokohamaYiji Ye, University of TokyoDevelopment of failure mitigation technologies for improving resilience of nuclear structures (3) Failure mitigation of reactor vessels for excessive earthquakes
26BerlinLars Heibges, Unversity of KeiserslauternMethods for Simulation of Hard Projectile Impact on Reinforced Concrete Structures
25CharlotteMaria Yankova, University of ManchesterUsing local approaches to quantify the local conditions during the ductile-to-brittle transition in ferritic steels
24Busan
23ManchesterPeter Gill, Amec Foster WheelerA method to Assess Impact Damage using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and Finite Element Coupled Approach

Kennedy Award

The SMiRT community lost another major and influential personality in 2018 with the passing of Robert Kennedy. An award in his memory was initiated by AASMiRT at SMiRT 25 in Charlotte to recognise the best paper in Bob Kennedy’s areas of expertise. Subsequently the award has been administered by IASMiRT.

 

SMiRTLocationRecipientPaper
28TorontoDr Yann LePape, ORNLStructural performance of in-service irradiated concrete biological shield and reactor support system during loss of coolant accident
27YokohamaMasato Yamamoto,* CRIEPIInfluence of the maximum fatigue pre-cracking load on master curve T0 evaluation considering the warm pre-stress effect
26BerlinPierre Woerndle, HOCHTIEF EngineeringAircraft Impact: Aspects of Coupled Dynamic Solutions
25Charlotte

*At SMiRT 27 the Kennedy award was presented by Dr Nilesh Chokshi, who was also recognised for his lifetime achievement for contribution to the areas of interest identified with Bob Kennedy

Student Travel Grant

From SMiRT 28 IASMiRT has introduced awards to support students in their endeavours to attend SMiRT conferences. Details will vary from time to time but it is anticipated that this will become a permanent feature of future SMiRT conferences.