In this paper, the usefulness of piezoelectric transducers for vehicle weig
ht measurement is assessed. Under mechanical strain, such as compression or
tension, a piezoelectric cable generates electrical charges that can be co
nverted into an electrical signal. This property was exploited to design a
model measurement setup in the form of an inclined plane to simulate the dy
namic pressure exerted by a moving vehicle on the road. The moving vehicle'
s momentum is converted into an electrical signal generated by the PVDF tra
nsducer under the influence of the vehicle pressure. The obtained results s
how the usefulness of the digital signal processing techniques for the proc
essing of electrical signals received from PVDF transducers under deformati
on and the validity of this method of measuring the weight of moving vehicl
es. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.