Importance of Correct Dowel Positions in Transversal Joints of Rigid Pavements

Positions of dowels and tie bars in jointed unreinforced concrete pavements and the importance of their correct placement on pavement behaviour and lifespan was studied as a part of R&D project of Technology Agency of the Czech Republic No. TA02031195 and TE01020168. Laboratory concrete beams with in-built dowels in different positions and strain gauges were prepared and exposed to cyclic loading. Another method concerned the modelling of stress state in the vicinity of in-built dowels by the FEM method in ANSYS software. The paper presents the results of modelling and performed experiments and makes conclusions which are important for practical usage.