Laboratory investigation of dowel bars’ misalignment using pull-out test

Abstract

Joint lockup due to dowel misalignment significantly affects joint and concrete pavement performance by causing joint distresses. The current paper presents an experimental study to assess the effectiveness of the standard pull-out test in the evaluation of the dowel misalignment effect on joint lockup of Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP). The tests were conducted at two different ages of concrete; 3 and 28 days. The results showed that the standard pull-out test or individual pulling of misaligned dowels cannot reflect the realistic defect of dowel misalignment. It also showed that the vertical orientation of misaligned dowel bars during the concrete casting reduces the pull-out load due to more distance from the exposure surface. Another observation was for all specimens, the pull-out load increases with an increase in concrete age.