Steven Altstadt is currently an associate principal and engineer in the Metallurgy and Applied Mechanics group at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., in Northbrook, IL. His primary technical interests are the strength and behavior of metals with a specialization in fatigue and fracture mechanics. He has consulted for many industries, including offshore structures, ships, pipelines, buildings, bridges, pressure vessels, piping, and machinery. His past work has included extreme event strength assessments, extreme event strain-based assessments, defect acceptance criteria, fatigue life predictions, writing material specifications, experimental testing, retrofit design, field monitoring programs, and forensic investigations.
Dr. Altstadt has conducted large-scale test programs for welded and bolted connections in structural components and pressurized components. He has written journal papers and conference papers on the topics of metal strength and behavior, and also gives introductory professional development presentations on the topics of metal fracture, fatigue, fitness for service, and integrity management. A licensed professional engineer in fifteen states, Dr. Altstadt's graduate work focused on the fracture of TMCP and traditional low-alloy steel-plate structures for U.S. bridges.
