The project titled "High-accuracy Vehicle Weighing-in-Motion", acronym HAWIM, is being implemented at Gdańsk University of Technology in the Department of Transport Engineering. The project started on June 1, 2023, and is scheduled to be completed on June 1, 2026. The HAWIM project received funding through the LIDER XIII programme, announced and concluded in 2022 by the National Centre for Research and Development.
The reason for undertaking the research project is the need to improve the effectiveness of truck weight load controlling.
Currently, vehicle weight inspections are carried out by relevant authorities, such as the Road Transport Inspection and the Police, and involve directing vehicles to stationary scales with the participation of an officer. Due to limited human resources and the considerable time required for inspections, the efficiency of this solution is low.
A significant unresolved issue is the large number of heavy vehicles and their low detection rate. According to research, up to one in five trucks may exceed allowable weight limits. Reducing the number of overloaded vehicles is possible through automatic control. Even a small reduction in the proportion of overloaded vehicles on the road would result in a significant extension of pavement life by several years, postponing the need for costly reinforcements or pavement reconstructions. This action would bring multi-million savings to the State Treasury on road maintenance and repairs.
Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) systems, particularly High-Speed Weigh-in-Motion (HS-WIM), are being developed as tools for vehicle weight controlling, however, their variable accuracy limits the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement. The key challenge is to improve measurement accuracy and to develope a self-calibrating system to ensure the long-term stability and efficiency of these systems. Improving the quality of vehicle weighing data will also contribute to more precise design and management of road infrastructure, which is crucial for pavement life prediction and maintenance planning.
The developed HS-WIM systems exhibit significant measurement errors after being embedded in road pavements, which can reach up to 30% for single-axle load measurements, primarily due to variable weather conditions and pavement properties. Factors such as temperature changes, pavement deformations, and dynamic axle loads further degrade the measurement accuracy, preventing the use of these systems for administrative vehicle weighing. Additional factors include the impact of vehicle speed, the variability of vehicle paths, and the heterogeneity of sensor sensitivity. To ensure adequate measurement accuracy, periodic system calibrations are carried out – high weighing accuracy is crucial for effectively eliminating overloaded vehicles, however current calibration methods are inefficient.
