Truck Scale Selection
The Great Debate on Truck Scale Selection: Concrete Deck vs. Steel Deck
05.08.2010 | Deskman: Marcel Dröttboom
Just as wood plank was the best deck surface for teams of horses in the early years of transportation, there is a best surface for your use. Steel or concrete? That is the question in truck scale selection.
That is indeed the question truck scales buyers ponder. “Do I want to purchase a steel deck truck scale or do I want a concrete deck truck scale?” To make the right choice, the following questions need to be answered:
- What is the type of material being weighed?
- How high is the volume of truck traffic?
- What is the climate or environment like?
- How much time is available for installation?
- What other critical business factors are there?
Don’t let anyone talk you into steel when you really need concrete. And don’t buy nostalgia. Just because your dad had a mechanical pit-type scale with a concrete deck back in the 1940’s doesn’t mean you need, or want, a concrete deck today.
The concrete in those old pit-type weighbridges was being used correctly. The concrete was in a compression application above the neutral axis of the structure. That’s how concrete was designed to be used.
The Pros and Cons of Concrete Deck Truck Scales
The “Mod” look took over in the 1970’s. Not British bands. Modular scales became available, followed by a rapid transition from concrete deck designs to primarily steel decks.
Steel costs were much lower, installation was simpler, and for the most part modular designs in a concrete deck were not available.
By the mid 1980’s truck scale manufacturers offered a concrete style modular design. Most featured a 12" (300 mm) deep metal pan, 24' long × 10' (7.3 m × 3 m) wide that was filled with concrete on the jobsite. These early modular concrete deck designs contained a fraction of the steel content in steel deck scales.
But most importantly, they violated a basic engineering principle. The concrete in these designs extended both above and below the neutral axis of the structure. The neutral axis is the area of any structure where there is no bending moment. No bending occurs at the neutral axis. When concrete is bent, it cracks (see Fig. 1).
The concrete in the lower portion of the module, below the neutral axis begins cracking which eventually reaches the top of the concrete deck surface, resulting in rapid deterioration and premature failure of the deck. In some cases “eventually” is only six or seven years. If the scale goes through frequent freezing and thawing, the process accelerates when water and elements penetrate the cracks.
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