Preliminary development, simulation and validation of a weigh in motion system for railway vehicles

The development of efficient Weigh In Motion (WIM) systems with the aim of estimating the axle loads of railway vehicles in motion is quite interesting both from an industrial and an academic point of view. This kind of systems is very important for safety and maintenance purposes in order to verify the loading conditions of a wide population of vehicles using a limited number of WIM devices distributed on the railway network. The evaluation of the axle load conditions is fundamental especially for freight wagons, more subjected to the risk of unbalanced loads which may be extremely dangerous both for the vehicle safety and the infrastructure maintenance.