Stress concentration around dowel bars in jointed rigid concrete pavements

In this study, the magnitude and state of stresses induced around dowel bars were identified through detailed 3D Finite Element (3DFE) modeling of dowel jointed rigid pavement structures. Both straight and skewed joints were modeled using extremely fine meshing that allows accurate modeling of the friction and separation at dowel concrete interfaces. The model response was examined for the case of joint loading with an equivalent axle load of 18000 lb. It was found that significantly large tensile stresses develop in the concrete on both sides of the loaded dowel. The magnitude of the tensile stress approaches the tensile modulus of rupture of concrete causing tensile cracks to develop on both sides of the dowel bar. The comparison between skewed and straight joints stresses revealed that skewing the joint is an expensive refinement of the joint that does not reduce the magnitude of stresses around dowel bars. A laboratory apparatus was designed for testing the performance of dowel joints. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2001

Author dc:creator

• Riad, Mourad Youssef

Contributors dc:contributor

• Samir N. Shoukry.

• Civil engineering

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/1183

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-2186