Method for Setting Weight Tolerance Limits in High-Speed Weigh-in-Motion Systems: A Case Study in Brazil

Abstract

High-speed weighing systems are considered a potential tool to restrain overloaded vehicles traffic, since this practice promotes threats to the infrastructure’s durability and to citizens’ safety. In view of the discussion on the certification of such systems, a method to define the weight tolerance limits of heavy goods vehicles was proposed in this work, using statistical experimentation methods. The method was applied to a case study in Brazil, which considered a high-speed weighing system and three known vehicles (3C, 2S3, and 3S3). The vehicles were loaded with gravel and the bending plate scale was used to set the weight. The test was conducted by checking the weight of the vehicles in the HS-WIM system and composed by the observance of three mandatory speeds (60, 70, and 80 km/h), in three different lateral positions in relation to the lane (center, left, and right), and at various times during the collection days. As result, maximum weights accuracy limits were obtained for gross vehicle weight (GVW) and for axes groups (G1, G2, and G3) as 13% (GVW), 20% (G1), 20% (G2), and 17% (G3).