SPECIFICATION PROPOSAL FOR FIBER-GLASS DOWELS FOR CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

Abstract

Since their appearance in the 1990's in North America, fiberglass dowels have been extensively tested at laboratory-scale and in real infrastructure projects, demonstrating to be a viable alternative capable of providing the necessary performance both in terms of load transfer capacity and corrosion resistance, the latter being its key value proposition. Today, fiberglass dowels are often a solution of choice in pavements where electromagnetic considerations, such as high-speed tolling are paramount. It is anticipated that with standardization, they will begin to replace ferrous reinforcing in traditional highway jointed paving where they are impervious to aggressive deicing salts or chlorides from marine environment and their lower modulus is beneficial to minimize concrete stresses in joints. Still, there is no material specification standard in the world but efforts to draft GFRP material standards are under way. This paper presents an overview of some successful fiberglass dowels' research projects and applications after more than 20 years of experience, and based on such, a material specification proposal for glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) dowels. Additionally, the work includes some basic parameters for the design and construction of slabs-on-ground with fiberglass dowels.