WEIGHING TRUCKS-IN-MOTION USING INSTRUMENTED HIGHWAY BRIDGES

The acquisition of truck axle and gross weight information has received considerable attention from highway planners. Truck data is important for design and maintenance of bridges and pavements and for planning, economic and enforcement evaluation surveys. An in-motion weighing system is described. It used instrumented highway bridge girders to act as equivalent static scales to obtain truck gross and axle weights, dimensions and speed. The weighing equipment is portable and easy to install. The weighing operation is undetected by passing trucks so an unbiased sample is obtained. A weighing system has been built and transfered to ODOT as part of this project. This equipment is now in routine use by ODOT's Bureau of Transportation Technical Services. Thousands of trucks have been weighed by both Case and ODOT personnel. Tests at 10 sites are described in detail in the report including steel and concrete girders and simple and continuous span bridges. The accuracy of the in-motion weighing is established by repeatability tests which show standard errors less than 3% for gross weight and also by one-to-one comparisons with static scale weights. The accuracy is better for gross weight than axle weights. The training of personnel for in-motion weighing and the criteria for good site location is discussed in detail. The system's capability and the economics of weigh in motion is presented. (FHWA)

• Corporate Authors:

  Case Western Reserve University

  Department of Civil Engineering, 10900 Euclid Avenue
  Cleveland, OH  United States  44106-7201

  Ohio Department of Transportation

  P.O. Box 889
  Columbus, OH  United States  43215

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Moses, F
  • Ghosn, M
• Publication Date: 1981-12

Media Info

• Pagination: 103 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axle load force; Girders; Gross vehicle weight; Highway bridges; Instrumentation; Motor vehicles; Portable equipment; Speed; Traffic speed; Training; Trucks; Weigh in motion
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; I71: Traffic Theory;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00349948
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/OH-81/008 Final Rpt., FCP 45L3-062
• Contract Numbers: 14329 (0)
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 30 1982 12:00AM