THE EFFECT OF VEHICLE TILT ON MEASURED WHEEL LOADS

Up-to-date information on axle-loads is required for pavement design and overlay design purposes. In developing countries this information will often be obtained from axle-load surveys in which portable wheel weighers are used to weigh wheel loads at the roadside of a sample of vehicles in the traffic stream. The effects on measured wheel loads of tilting vehicles or raising individual wheels and axles are described. Large errors in estimating axle loads from individual wheel loads may occur if one wheel of an axle is raised relative to the other wheels of a vehicle. It is recommended that when undertaking axle-load surveys of this kind the wheel-weighing platform should be set in a pit so that all wheels of vehicles being weighed are in the same plane, which preferably should be horizontal. (Author/TRRL)