ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF DOWELED SLAB-ON-GRADE PAVEMENT SYSTEMS

This paper provides an in-depth synthesis of knowledge acquired over the last several decades pertaining to the analysis and design of doweled slab-on-grade pavement systems. This task is accomplished on the basis of rigorous, theoretically sound engineering principles, and relies extensively on the application of dimensional analysis for the interpretation of finite element data pertaining to the behavior of doweled joints. A design procedure is derived that allows, for the first time, the determination of the dowel diameter and spacing required to achieve a desired level of load transfer, or a threshold value of dowel-concrete bearing stress. The proposed approach eliminates the need for any a priori assumptions with respect to the distribution of dowel shear forces. An efficient and general method for the backcalculation of the modulus of dowel reaction, K, from deflection data is also suggested. These research findings constitute a mechanistic structural model for JPCP and contribute significantly toward a new design code for pavements that will be based on fundamentally sound theoretical precepts, verified using experimental data. They may also be used to validate the performance-based algorithms of more empirical approaches currently widely in use.