In The Netherlands an asphaltic surfacing structure for orthotropic steel bridge decks mostly consists of two structural layers, see Figure 1. The upper layer consists of Porous Asphalt (PA) for noise reduction. For the lower layer a choice between Mastic Asphalt (MA) orGuss Asphalt (GA), can be
made. In order to characterize the adhesive bonding strength of various membrane products utilized in the Dutch steel deck bridges, four types of specimens, i.e. steel-membrane specimen (Steel/M1), Guss Asphalt Concrete-membrane specimen (M1/G-asphalt and G-asphalt/M2) and Porous Asphalt-membrane specimen (M2/P-asphalt) were produced at Delft University of Technology (TUD).

In order to characterize adequately the adhesive bonding strength of the various membranes with surrounding materials on orthotropic steel bridge decks, a Membrane Adhesion Test (MAT) device has been developed by TUD.