摘要: |
Because of the rapid increase in passenger cars on the Sun Yat-sen National Freeway, the percentage of heavy vehicles has decreased gradually from 41% in 1980 to 23.91% in 1992. However, at the same time the truck overloading problem has become a serious issue and dramatically affects pavement performance life and bridge safety. The first weigh-in-motion equipment was introduced to Taiwan's freeway system. After data collection and analysis, it was found that almost one-sixth of single-unit trucks and one-third of semitractor trailers were heavily overloaded. The overall overloading rate was 14.2% above the current regulations, and the tandem axle overloading rate was much higher than the overloading rate of truck gross weights. The data were then compared with the overloading record collected by the freeway patrol for the same period. It was found, surprisingly, that the official record's statistics were much lower than the actual data. It was concluded that overloading, especially axle overloading, is a very serious problem on the freeway system in Taiwan. In addition, the axle load ratios calculated were dramatically different from the ratios given in the bridge design standard specification. Further studies in this direction are highly recommended. |