Tor Relay - RelayBandwidthRate vs. RelayBandwidthBurst

I'm struggling a bit with the two config options for RelayBandwidthRate and RelayBandwidthBurst - what I currently have in my torrc config file is:
My assumption was that on average the Relay would consume 8 Mbps max. but over a shorter period of time also up to 12 Mbps in case needed. What I see (historical monitor data at 10 s intervals for the past 6 months) is that the bandwidth usage never exceeds 8 Mbps. I can also see the consumption to be levelled out at 8 Mbps for minutes or hours so it looks like there would be a need for more bandwidth. My question: why can't I see the bandwidth usage going above 8 Mbps and making use of the allowed burst? Btw, I'm typically using the latest stable tor, currently the relay is on 0.4.0.5. Any comment welcome!

Hi,
Yes the Tor network does need more bandwidth, particularly for exits.
My question: why can't I see the bandwidth usage going above 8 Mbps and making use of the allowed burst? Btw, I'm typically using the latest stable tor, currently the relay is on 0.4.0.5.
The burst is over a very short period of time. I think it's about 1 second. The rate is averaged is over a slightly longer period of time, and includes any burst bandwidth. That is, if the bandwidth burst to 12 Mbps in the last second, the bandwidth in this second will be 4 Mbps. The lower bandwidth in the next second keeps the average to 8 Mbps. T -- teor ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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petrarca@protonmail.ch
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teor