MEASURING OF ROAD GRADIENTS

When is it necessary to measure road

gradients?
When an investigation i s made of the pulling power
of a truck or combination it is important t o know
how steep the road is. Otherwise the results would
be unreliable.
Tests require a high degree of accuracy t o enable
comparison with e.g. performance diagrams for
trucks.
The method described here may be used if gradient
values are unknown for a stretch of road t o be used
for testing pulling power.

Measuring equipment
Use a transparent plastic hose of the following km!h
dimensions as measuring tool: Example o f performance diagram for truck
Length max. 6 000 mm
Inner diameter 8mm
Depends on measuring method, see "Measur~ng"

Preferably there should be a restriction tap on the

hose t o damp the flow of the water in the hose.
Water flow should not be restricted by pinching the
hose as that would change the water level.
On the windscreen there should also be a &s
copied from the figure in page 3.
Note! Check that the copying machine does not
alter the scale proportions.

Preparations
1. Park vehicle t o be used on level surface e.g.
workshop floor. Suspension of vehicle should
be hard t o prevent spring deflections from
affecting results. It is also preferable t o use a
vehicle with long axle distance.
-
Note. Vehicle must be loaded the same as
during tests. Also load distribution must be
identical.
2. Attach plastic hose in cab or body by driver
seat as illustrated. For scale t o be true,
distance t o rear water level in hose must be
1 200 mm (or twice as long, see "Measuring").
Rear fastening point must be straiaht behind
front point.
3. Place restriction tap at lower edge of
windscreen.
4. F i l l hose with water t o approx. half way up on
windscreen. Simplest way t o do this is by
1 Plastic hose
inserting one end of hose in container and
2 Restriction tap
sucking the other. Make sure that hose
3 Scale
contains no air bubbles.
Attachment o f plastic hose and scale
5. Attach scale t o windscreen with tape t o make
its zero point level with water surface.

SCANIA service
 Test gradients
Select t w o or three gradients with different
inclinations. Each gradient must have equal
inclination along a stretch of at least 100 m.
Road surface must be even and e.g. metalled.

Measuring
The scale is graduated for gradient or incline from 0
t o 15 %.
If greater accuracy is desired, plastic hose should be
attached so that rear water surface i s 2 400 mrn
behind front surface. Measuring range then be-
comes 0 t o 7.5 %. Read values have to be halved.
With this method measuring error is less than
0.1 %.
a Seal hose when travelling to test site. Otherwire
water will escape when braking.
a Run along stretch several times in both
directions.
a Take a reading with stationary vehicle and at
several points along every stretch.
a Calculate average value of readings for each
gradient.

~ a Check that zero points match after return t o

workshop.
If possible, place markers on road side where test
stretches start and end.

Test of pulling power

Check before testing that gross vehicle weight
and other test values meet with e.g. the
performance diagram you intend t o use.
a Make certain that chosen speed i s maintained
when test stretch starts.

COPY scale
+ + + +

SCANIA service
MIG 1984.36442