Numerical Mechanical Analysis of Concrete Pavement with Dowels in Transverse Joints

摘要

The frequent appearance of early distresses shortens pavement life span greatly; setting dowels at joints can improve load transfer capacity effectively. In order to study the effects of dowels on a slab's mechanical responses, a 3D FE model is built to quantify the variation in displacement and stress. Results show that dowels can balance displacement and stress in adjacent slabs, and the stress ratio of the indirectly loaded slab to the directly loaded slab is increased from 73.258% to 89.228%, and the maximum displacement difference is reduced by nearly 50%. The maximum principle stress on the directly loaded slab is reduced by 9.724% and the maximum displacement is reduced by 6.691% due to the dowels. Dowels also improve the load transfer efficiency to an acceptable level, which guarantees good pavement performance and long road life span.