Test method to assess bonding characteristics of membrane layers in wearing course on orthotropic steel bridge decks

For the adequate characterization of the adhesive-bonding strength of various membranes and surrounding materials on orthotropic steel decks and for the collection of the necessary parameters for finite element modeling, details of the membrane adhesion test (MAT) are introduced. Analytical constitutive relations of the MAT device have been derived from the same methodology used by Williams (1997). Furthermore, through the use of the experimental data obtained from the MAT, the ranking of the bonding characteristics of various membrane products is demonstrated, as is the role of other influencing factors, such as test temperatures and types of substrate.