Why measure every pass
Traffic counts and weigh stations tell you how many trucks use a road and roughly how heavy they are. They do not tell you how the pavement responds. The same axle produces very different strain in January and in July, and on a new pavement versus an aged one.
What to measure
- Strain in the wheel paths under each axle.
- Pressure on the base or subgrade.
- Pavement temperature, to put each pass in context.
- A roadside vehicle trigger to start each recording.
How MT-16 is set up
The trigger wakes the logger as a heavy vehicle approaches. The whole pass is recorded at high rate on every channel, including the moments before the vehicle arrived. Between events the logger records temperatures and waits. Each day it uploads the vehicle records and a summary.
What you get
- A measured load spectrum for the road, by season.
- Early warning when loading changes, for example new freight traffic or a detour.
- Maintenance planned from measured response rather than estimates.