Weigh in motion

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Weigh-in-motion or weighing-in-motion
(WIM) devices are designed to capture
and record the axle weights and gross
vehicle weights as vehicles drive over a
measurement site. Unlike static scales,
WIM systems are capable of measuring
vehicles traveling at a reduced or normal
traffic speed and do not require the
vehicle to come to a stop. This makes
the weighing process more efficient, and,
in the case of commercial vehicles,
allows for trucks under the weight limit to
bypass static scales or inspection.

Accuracy of WIM and

Quality of Data
The accuracy of weigh-in-motion data is
generally much less than for static weigh
scales where the environment is better
controlled. The European COST 323[1]
group developed an accuracy
classification framework in the
1990's.[2][3] They also coordinated three
independently controlled road tests of
commercially available and prototype
WIM systems, one in Switzerland,[4] one
in France (Continental Motorway Test)
and one in Northern Sweden (Cold
Environment Test).[5] Better accuracy can
be achieved with multiple-sensor WIM
systems[6] and careful compensation for
the effects of temperature. The Federal
Highway Administration in the United
States have published Quality Assurance
criteria for WIM systems[7] whose data is
included in the Long Term Pavement
Performance project.

Road applications
Especially for trucks, gross vehicle and
axle weight monitoring is useful in an
array of applications including:

Pavement design, monitoring, and

research
Bridge design, monitoring, and
research
To inform weight overload
enforcement policies and to directly
facilitate enforcement[8]
Planning and freight movement
studies
Toll by weight
Data to facilitate legislation and
regulation

The most common road application of

WIM data is probably pavement design
and assessment. In the United States, a
histogram of WIM data is used for this
purpose. In the absence of WIM data,
default histograms are available.
Pavements are damaged through a
mechanistic-empirical fatigue process[9]
that is commonly simplified as the fourth
power law . In its original form, the fourth
power law states that the rate of
pavement damage is proportional to axle
weight raised to the fourth power. WIM
data provides information on the
numbers of axles in each significant
weight category which allows these
kinds of calculations to be carried out.
Weigh in motion scales are often used to
facilitate weight overload enforcement,
such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration's Commercial Vehicle
Information Systems and Networks
program. Weigh-in-motion systems can
be used as part of traditional roadside
inspection stations, or as part of virtual
inspection stations.[10] In most countries,
WIM systems are not considered
sufficiently accurate for direct
enforcement of overloaded vehicles but
this may change in the future.[11]

The most common bridge application of

WIM is the assessment of traffic loading.
The intensity of traffic on a bridge varies
greatly as some roads are much busier
than others. For bridges that have
deteriorated, this is important as a less
heavily trafficked bridge is safer and
more heavily trafficked bridges should be
prioritized for maintenance and repair. A
great deal of research has been carried
out on the subject of traffic loading on
bridges, both short-span,[12][13][14]
including an allowance for
dynamics,[15][16][17] and long-
span.[18][19][20]

Recent years have seen the rise of

several "specialty" Weigh-in-Motion
systems. One popular example is the
front fork garbage truck scale. In this
application, a container is weighed—
while it is full—as the driver lifts, and
again—while it is empty—as the container
is returned to the ground. The difference
between the full and empty weights is
equal to the weight of the contents.

Types of Weigh in Motion

System
One of the earliest WIM systems, still
used in a minority of installations, uses
an instrumented existing bridge as the
weighing platform.[21][22] Bending plates
span a void cut into the pavement and
use the flexure as the wheel passes over
as a measure of weight. Load cells use
strain sensors in the corner supports of a
large platform embedded in the road.
The majority of systems today are strip
sensors - pressure sensitive materials
installed in a 2 to 3 cm groove cut into
the road pavement. In strip sensors,
various sensing materials are used,
including piezo-polymer, piezo-ceramic,
capacitive and piezo-quartz. Many of
these sensing systems are temperature-
dependent and algorithms are used to
correct for this.[23]

Bridge Weigh in Motion

The concept of Bridge WIM was first

proposed by Moses[21] in the United
States. It fell into disuse but re-emerged
in Europe in the 1990's.[24] The
disadvantage of Bridge WIM is that it
requires a bridge to be present at the
location of interest. An advantage is that
it is portable - the same system can be
moved between bridges in a matter of
hours. The concept of Bridge WIM is that
the bridge flexes under the weight of the
passing truck. Truck axle weights are
found by minimizing the sum of squared
differences between the theoretical and
measured responses. Strain transducers
are generally used to measure the bridge
response but other responses are
possible including deflection.[25] Users of
Bridge WIM claim similar levels of
accuracy to the best of the other WIM
technologies[22] though there are few
tests that provide direct comparisons.[26]
Since it was first developed, many
innovations have been proposed to
improve accuracy.[27][28][29][30] One of the
more complex is a dynamic version
known as Moving Force Identification[31]
though this poses practical challenges
for calibration.[32] One of the more
significant other innovations is the
development of Nothing-On-Road (NOR)
or Free-of-Axle-detector (FAD) systems
which allow installation to take place
without access to the road surface.[33]

System Basics of Most

Systems
Sensors

WIM systems can employ various types

of sensors for measurement. Strain
transducers are used in Bridge WIM
systems. Strain gauges are used to
measure the flexure in bending plates
and the deformation in load cells. The
strip sensor systems use piezo-electric
materials in the groove. Finally,
capacitive systems measure the
capacitance between two closely placed
charged plates.[34]

Charge amplifiers
High impedance charge signals are
amplified with MOSFET based charge
amplifiers and converted to a voltage
output, which is connected to analysis
system.

Inductive loops

Inductive loops define the vehicle entry

and exit from the WIM station. These
signals are used as triggering inputs to
start and stop the measurement to
initiate totaling gross vehicle weight of
each vehicle. They also measure total
vehicle length and help with vehicle
classification. For toll gate or low speed
applications, inductive loops may be
replaced by other types of vehicle
sensors such as light curtains, axle
sensors or piezocables.

Measurement system

The high speed measurement system is

programmed to perform calculations of
the following parameters:

Axle distances, Individual axle weights,

Gross Vehicle Weight, Vehicle Speed,
Distance between vehicles, and the GPS
synchronized time stamp for each
vehicle measurement.

The measurement system should be

environmentally protected, should have a
wide operating temperature range and
withstand condensation.

Communications

Variety of communication methods need

to be installed on the measurement
system. A modem or cellular modem can
be provided. In older installations or
where no communication infrastructure
exists, WIM systems can be self-
operating while saving the data, to later
physically retrieve it.

Data archiving

A WIM system connected with any

available communication means can be
connected to a central monitoring server.
Automatic data archiving software is
required to retrieve the data from many
remote WIM stations to be available for
any further processing. A central
database can be built to link many WIMs
to a server for a variety of monitoring and
enforcement purposes.

Rail applications
Weighing in motion is also a common
application in rail transport. Known
applications are[35]

Asset protection (imbalances,

overloading)
Asset management
 Maintenance planning
Legislation and regulation
Administration and planning

System basics

There are two main parts to the

measurement system: the track-side
component, which contains hardware for
communication, power, computation, and
data acquisition, and the rail-mounted
component, which consists of sensors
and cabling. Known sensor principles
include:

strain gauges: measuring the strain

usually in the hub of the rail[36]
 fiber optical sensors: measuring a
change of light intensity caused by the
bending of the rail[37]
load cells: Measuring the strain change
in the load cell rather than directly on
the rail itself.
laser based systems: measuring the
displacement of the rail

Yards and main line

Trains are weighed, either on the main

line or at yards. Weighing in Motion
systems installed on the main lines
measure the complete weight
(distribution) of the trains as they pass
by at the designated line speed.
Weighing in motion on the mainline is
therefore also referred to as "coupled-in-
motion weighing": all of the railcars are
coupled. Weighing in motion at yards
often measure individual wagons. It
requires that the railcar are uncoupled on
both ends in order to weigh. Weighing in
motion at yards is therefore also referred
to as "uncoupled-in-motion weighing".
Systems installed at yards usually works
at lower speeds and are capable of
higher accuracies.

Air applications
Some airports use airplane weighing,
whereby the plane taxis across the scale
bed, and its weight is measured. The
weight may then be used to correlate
with the pilot's log entry, to ensure there
is just enough fuel, with a little margin for
safety. This has been used for some time
to conserve jet fuel.

Also, the main difference in these

platforms, which are basically a
"transmission of weight" application,
there are checkweighers, also known as
dynamic scales or in-motion scales.

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External links
6. WEIGH-IN-FREE-FLOW
"Weigh in Motion Systems"
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Weigh_in_motion&oldid=887926108"

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