Vehicle’s center of gravity estimation using pavement Weight-in-Motion

Abstract

The center of gravity of a vehicle (CG) is a critical parameter in influencing the quality of driveability and safety, such as for preventing rollover accidents. Therefore, it is important to identify a vehicle’s CG in practical situations. In particular, it is strongly desired to make it possible to measure the height of the CG of trucks and trailers freighted with various voluminous and heavy loads on business operation. The technology of Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) is being developed to identify the gross weight of trucks and trailers and detect overload. In this paper, the authors propose a method for the estimation of a vehicle’s CG, especially the height of CG, based on the WIM system. The basic theory is described at first, and the validity is shown by means of basic experiments using a light truck and a motorbike.