Effect of Dowel Bar Arrangements on Performance of Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP)

A full-scale jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) with two different dowel bar arrangements, namely, standard and special method, was constructed and evaluated under actual traffic-environmental condition in Florida. For standard dowel bar arrangement, dowel bars spaced at 304.8 mm (12 in), while three dowel bars spaced at 304.8 mm (12 in) only within the wheel paths were installed for special dowel bar arrangement. Field performance evaluation was conducted in terms of longitudinal crack, transverse crack, corner crack, spalling, and load transfer efficiency (LTE). Also, a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) model was developed to evaluate change in structural response characteristics due to different dowel bar arrangements under the critical loading condition. The developed FE model was used to perform a parametric analysis to determine the effects of different dowel bar arrangements. Results indicated that no significant changes in pavement structural responses, including the slab stresses and deflections, were predicted between two dowel bar arrangements that may result in no significant difference in expected performance for the test slabs evaluated, and this matched well with results of field performance evaluation. Also, it was indicated that the base modulus plays an important role on the dowel-joint behavior and stiffer base condition could significantly improve the dowel-joint performance. Therefore, when the base layer is stiff enough to support the slab deflection and resist erosion (e.g., AC layer), special dowel bar arrangement could provide similar performance as compared to standard dowel bar arrangement that result in significant cost savings without any negative effects on expected pavement performance.