“Modeling of Earthquake Motions for Seismic Design of Critical Facilities: Revision of Licensing Criteria of NPP” by Dr. Heki Shibata is the first paper in this issue of the Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology. Dr. Shibata (Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo) has a long and internationally distinguished career. For more than 40 years he has specialized in the mechanical and structural aspects of seismic engineering.
In the 1960s, Heki Shibata began anti-earthquake engineering research focused on seismic analysis methods, both theoretical and experimental. During the 1970s, he applied the results of this research to the establishment of seismic codes and standards. The establishment of Japanese seismic design codes for high pressure gas facilities, liquid natural gas storage tanks and piping, and nuclear equipment and piping, is one of his most remarkable accomplishments.
In the 1990s, under Heki Shibata's excellent leadership, and with financial support from MITI (now METI) and the Japanese power industry, anti-seismic performance proving tests of various nuclear structures and pieces of equipment were performed using the large scale NUPEC Tadotsu shaking table.
Dr. Shibata is the author of numerous papers in the JSME, ASME, and other international journals.
Since his retirement from the University of Tokyo in 1992, Heki Shibata continues to work in the field of seismic engineering in Japan and overseas. He maintains a leading role in the SMiRT Congress (he was part of the initial team that, with the late Thomas A. Jaeger, founded SMiRT in 1971), and the IASMiRT organization.
In recognition for his splendid achievements, Dr. Shibata has received numerous awards from JSME, ASME, SMiRT, and Japanese academic bodies.
