Laboratory evaluation of concrete-filled GFRP dowels in jointed concrete pavements.

For decades, smooth, round, steel dowels have been used to transfer traffic wheel loads across the joints of concrete pavements. These dowels are subjected to shear and bending stresses due to thermal gradients in the pavement slabs in addition to the traffic loads. Over time, the concrete pavement joints become damaged due to the corrosion of the steel dowels as a result of the use of de-icing salts. In order to address both the corrosion and bearing stress problems, large-diameter concrete-filled GFRP tube dowels have been introduced. Experimental work at the University of Manitoba examined and compared the performance of four dowel types including 38 mm epoxy coated steel, 38 mm solid, pultruded GFRP dowels, and two sizes of concrete-filled GFRP tube dowels having diameters of 50.8 mm and 63.5 mm each. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211395.