Rigid pavement strain as means of weighing vehicles

The possibility of estimate the velocity, axle and gross weight of a moving vehicle from the surface of pavement tensile strain is investigated. The objective is to develop the novel weigh-in-motion (WIM) technique to estimate the vehicle weight from the pavement responses with fewer disturbances to the vehiclepsilas vibration and traveling speed, and to provide a more reliable and durable WIM systems and sensors. A line of embedded concrete strain sensors was installed at a depth of 25cm in a surface of rigid pavement across one wheel path of the outside lane of a highway. The installation was calibrated with a truck of known weight, enabling the weights of other vehicles to be calculated and compared with weights determined by other means. Three test runs were conducted at six month intervals. Repeatability, sources of error, and accuracy of weight prediction are discussed. Successful results were obtained with this system, but further work would be required before it could be used as an operational system..