Vehicle Weight Estimation Using Wireless Accelerometers on a Steel-Box Girder Bridge

While the traffic loads need to be understood toward efficient management of bridges, the loads on each bridge are not well assessed. An easy‐to‐implement vehicle weight estimation technique toward Bridge Weigh‐In‐Motion (BWIM) is developed based on wireless accelerometers; the algorithm is studied for the application to ordinary road bridges where traffic speed is not necessarily high and drive speed fluctuation is not insignificant. The method uses only accelerometers installed on the girders, decreasing installation cost and time which typical BWIM systems based on strain measurement need. A measurement system consisting of battery operated wireless sensors is employed. The system can continue to work over weeks to assess the vehicle weigh distributions of days of a week. The system is installed on a continuous box‐girder bridge and the performance is examined. The system was shown to assess the weight of all heavy vehicles.