Laboratory testing, field construction, and decade long performance evaluation of jointed plain concrete pavement with FRP dowels

ABSTRACT

In this study, laboratory and field constructed Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP) were evaluated with Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) dowels and compared with JPCP consisting of steel dowels. Laboratory evaluations on representative concrete JPCP sections with FRP and steel dowels consisted of static and fatigue testing followed by analytical modelling. Laboratory testing of JPCP with FRP and steel dowels focused on joint deflection and dowel strain data collection for determining Load Transfer Efficiency (LTE) and joint Relative Deflections (RD) under static and 5 million cycles of fatigue load corresponding to a 45 kN (10 kip) wheel load of HS-25 truck. The static data showed low relative deflections for concrete sections with smaller dowel diameter of 25 mm and spacing of 150 mm than the currently used 38 mm diameter dowels with 300 mm spacing. Analytical calculations were carried out to show the effect of applied loads on the bending and shear deflections, and bearing stresses. After laboratory evaluations, new field construction and rehabilitation of JPCP was carried out using FRP and steel dowels. Some of the field evaluations consisted of static, dynamic, and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests. After 5 and 13 years of field service, FWD tests showed that the LTE of joints with FRP dowels were around 90% and met the applicable performance requirements.

KEYWORDS:

• FRP
• dowel
• JPCP
• falling weight deflectometer
• FWD
• LTE

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Office of Research and Technology Services, Federal Highway Administration, 6300 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101-2296 and the West Virginia Division of Highways under grant DTFH61-99-X-00078. Comments and suggestions from Mr. Peter Kopac, FHWA and help towards Falling Weight Deflectometer tests from Mr. Roy Capper of WVDOH-DOT were of immense help and acknowledged.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Federal Highway Administration [grant number DTFH61-99-X-00078].