Effectiveness of Vehicle Weight Estimation from Bridge Weigh-in-Motion

Abstract

The effectiveness of vehicle weight estimations from bridge weigh-in-motion system is studied. The measured bending moments of the instrumented bridge under a passage of vehicle are numerically simulated and are used as the input for the vehicle weight estimations. Two weight estimation methods assuming constant magnitudes and time-varying magnitudes of vehicle axle loads are investigated. The appropriate number of bridge elements and sampling frequency are considered. The effectiveness in term of the estimation accuracy is evaluated and compared under various parameters of vehicle-bridge system. The effects of vehicle speed, vehicle configuration, vehicle weight and bridge surface roughness on the accuracy of the estimated vehicle weights are intensively investigated. Based on the obtained results, vehicle speed, surface roughness level and measurement error seem to have stronger effects on the weight estimation accuracy than other parameters. In general, both methods can provide quite accurate weight estimation of the vehicle. Comparing between them, although the weight estimation method assuming constant magnitudes of axle loads is faster, the method assuming time-varying magnitudes of axle loads can provide axle load histories and exhibits more accurate weight estimations of the vehicle for almost of the considered cases.