What are dowels in concrete?

Dowels are located in transverse joints of Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP) and they are used to provide load transfer between individual slabs, reduce faulting and improve performance.

Are dowels and rebar the same?

Yes they are made of the same material. Dowels usually refer to vertical rebar protruding from a concrete pour to attach columns and vertical components to a slab or wall. Smooth dowels are used to attach horizontal slabs at control joints between pours.

What are dowel bars in concrete slab?

Dowel bars are short steel bars that are installed in concrete slabs to provide a mechanical connection that doesn’t restrict horizontal joint movement. They are designed to reduce joint deflection and stress in the approach and leave slab by increasing load transfer efficiency.

What is the purpose of dowels?

Dowels are placed in transversal contraction or construction joints of concrete pavements and help to transfer loading between individual slabs. Dowels allow horizontal movement of slabs during contraction in the time period after laying the concrete pavement and at temperature changes.

When should you dowel concrete?

When a joint is created, some level of load transfer can be achieved by aggregate interlock between the two concrete slabs at the joint. However, higher traffic loads (especially trucks) increase the stresses on the slab edges beyond this level, so dowel bars are recommended to provide load transfer.

What is the purpose of a dowel bar?

The primary advantage of dowel bars is to transfer load without restricting horizontal joint movements due to temperature and moisture expansion and contraction in the concrete slabs. Also, dowel bars play a role to maintain the vertical and horizontal alignment of slabs.

What is dowel action in reinforced concrete beams?

The dowel action refers to a shear strength complementary mechanism attributed to reinforced cracked concrete. This shear-load transfer mechanism occurs when cracks grow and cut across longitudinal reinforcements, providing an increase into the mechanical shear strength.

Why we use dowels in concrete footings?

Explanation: Dowel bars are provided in reinforced concrete footings to transfer the load from columns (e.g. isolated square column footing) to the footing. They are necessary when the concrete bearing alone is not enough to transfer loading from the column to the footing.

What is dowel joint?

Dowels joints are a way that drawers sections are fastened together. Including dowels in the connecting sections of wood make more accurate, stronger connections that simply using glue alone. Dowel joints are incredibly strong and visually attractive if they are done right.

What is dowel bar in column?

Dowel bars are short steel bars that provide a mechanical connection between slabs without restricting horizontal joint movement. They increase load transfer efficiency by allowing the leave slab to assume some of the load before the load is actually over it.