Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate the actual axle loads of vehicles used for the transport of sawmill by-products, resulting from the total weight of the transport set (GVW) at different times of the year and depending on the type of sets and transported assortment. Sawmill by-product loads were divided into groups: wood chips, sawdust, slabs and recycled wood. The research was carried out at the recipient of the sawmill by-products as well as at the producer. The GVW was determined on the basis of weighing the entire set on a stationary scale at the premises of the companies. The load on the individual axles of high tonnage truck units was measured using Model DINI ARGEO WWSD portable truck scales with a 3590M309 weighing terminal. Almost 230 transports were analyzed. It was shown that the average GVW is 39.25 t for transport sets with a load of 22.44 t of sawmill by-products with the usage of the semi-trailer capacity of 0.85. For all transport sets, the average load on the individual axles range from 6.72 t (axle 5 in a six-axle truck and trailer-TT) to 10.29 t for axle 2 in a truck and semi-trailer (TST), where the highest occurs on axle 2 of the truck (drive axle). The influence of the type of transport set (TST or TT) and the type of the assortments on the axle load is shown, and the existing correlations are at the level of 0.604–0.669 for axles 3–5 in the TST set. The static axle loads of the transport sets for the sawmill by-products and the distribution of the total weight of the set among the axles are different from those for roundwood transport.