Test method to assess membrane layer fatigue response on orthotropic steel bridge decks

In order to adequately characterize the fatigue response of the various membranes with surrounding multilayer surfacing layers on orthotropic steel decks and collect the necessary parameters for FE modeling, the details of the cyclic membrane adhesion tester (MAT) were introduced. The fatigue damage in membrane interface was related to the amount of dissipated work computed by using the measurement of actuator load and piston deformation during the loading cycle. The dissipated work, which is equivalent to the lost part of the total potential energy of the membrane, was utilized to explain the incremental damage during the testing. Furthermore, using the experimental data obtained from MAT, ranking of the bonding characteristics of various membrane products was demonstrated as well as the role of other influencing factors, such as the types of substrate and test temperatures.