DEVELOPMENT OF DATABASE OF HEAVY TRUCK LOAD DATA IN PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
Muhammad Usman Shafi*, Syed Muhammad Ali**, Syed Akhtar Ali Shah***, Kamran Ahmed****
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research project is to develop an indigenous solution that should be efficient and cost effective
for determining truck loads passing from Peshawar. As heavy vehicles impacts road most, therefore small vehicles
are put in one category and trucks are divided into two, three, four, five and six axles to give clear interpretation
of each type of truck. To determine load data, a portable weighing station was designed keeping in view the size of
each truck tire, the maximum deflection and economy. Weighing plates were made of steel which is easily available,
cheaper as compare to the aluminum plates that are being employed in most of the weighing machines. Movable
weighing station comprises of two rectangular steel plates of sizes 28” x 21” and thickness 1” considering the dimensions
of loaded trucks tires and AASHTO specification. The thickness is taken as 1” as the deflection produced
by the heaviest truck tire was less than 0.5”. General purpose strain gages were installed on front and back side
of each plate in full wheat stone bridge form and were connected to Data acquisition system (DAQ) to record deflection.
Lab calibration was carried out to determine the value of strain for each load applied through Universal
testing machine (UTM). Load verses strain graph was developed for each load cell which was used to interpret the
value of load exerted by each pair of tire to produce strains. By adding the strains from each plate, axle load and
similarly by adding axles, the load of the complete vehicle can be determined. Field calibration was carried out to
check the precision of plates and was found in close agreement. Axle wise load of around 200 vehicles were taken
randomly and were found that more than 80% of the vehicles of each category are overloaded. This sample survey of
load can be implemented across the country as it is the representation of the loaded vehicles moving in the country.
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June 2015
Vol 34 No 1 (2015)
