Title: A regularised solution to the bridge weigh-in-motion equations

Authors: Eugene J. OBrien, Cillian W. Rowley, Arturo Gonzalez, Mark F. Green

Addresses: University College Dublin, UCD School of Architecture, Landscape and Civil Engineering, Newstead, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. ' Buro Happold, 17 Newman Street, London W1T1PD, UK. ' University College Dublin, UCD School of Architecture, Landscape and Civil Engineering, Newstead, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. ' Department of Civil Engineering, Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: The traditional approach to Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) developed by Moses, gives good accuracy for estimating gross vehicle weights but is less accurate for individual axle weights. In this paper, Tikhonov regularisation is applied to the original Moses| equations to reduce some of the inaccuracies inherent within the algorithm. The optimal regularisation parameter is calculated using the L-curve criterion. The new regularised solution is numerically tested using simulations of moving vehicles on a bridge. Results show that the regularised solution performs significantly better than the original approach of Moses and is insensitive to road surface roughness.

Keywords: bridge WIM; weigh-in-motion; least squares minimisation; Tikhonov regularisation; L-curve; heavy vehicles; weights; gross vehicle weights; individual axle weights; road surface roughness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2009.027135

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2009 Vol.16 No.3, pp.310 - 327

Published online: 15 Jul 2009 *

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