Investigation of Piezoelectric Weigh-in-Motion Sensors’ Performance in Asphalt Concrete Pavements in Cold Temperatures of Southern Ontario
Piezoelectric Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) sensors differ in material, structural design and installation and calibration procedures. The differences make the sensors to respond differently to equivalent loading conditions since the sensitivity of sensors to the pavement, climate and vehicle conditions are different. This research is based on performance comparison between three types of piezoelectric WIM sensors in southern Ontario in a medium strength asphalt concrete pavement (ACP) of stone mastic design under different transverse location of load (different path runs). In September 2007, three types of WIM piezoelectric sensors (ceramic, polymer and quartz) were installed at the Centre for Pavement & Transportation Technology (CPATT)’s test site at the Region of Waterloo’s Waste Management facility. Calibration and the matching procedure between the static scale located at the facility and sensors’ outputs were completed in spring 2008. At the first run of sensors’ performance comparison, this paper investigated the sensors’ responses resulted from passing a test vehicle over the sensors on different path runs. The evaluation results show that the transverse location of axle load affects significantly all piezoelectric sensors, and interaction between path run and air temperature factors affects significantly only polymer and ceramic piezoelectric sensors; however, the effects of cold air temperatures at 1.5oC level size were negligible on all sensors. Research is currently being directed to improve performance WIM sensors by improving knowledge on the effects of speed and weight of vehicle and ambient temperature specifically on the polymer sensors for cold climates such as southern Ontario’s.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ35(2) Weigh-in-Motion
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Hashemi Vaziri, Shahram
- Haas, Carl
- Rothenburg, Leo
- Haas, Ralph
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
- Date: 2012
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 14p
- Monograph Title: TRB 91st Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Accuracy; Cold weather; Piezoelectric materials; Traffic speed; Vehicle weight; Weigh in motion
- Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I70: Traffic and Transport;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01366409
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 12-1484
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Mar 29 2012 7:14AM