STUDY AND EVALUATION OF FIBER REINFORCED DOWELL BARS FOR USEIN HIGHWAYS

DOWEL BARS HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN USED AS AN IMPORTANT LOADTRANSFER MECHANISM ON OUR FEDERAL HIGHWAYS. A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM OCCURRS WITH THE USE OF THESE BARS DUE TO RUST AND RESULTANT SPALLING AND CRACKING CONCRETE. COMPOSITE REINFORCING BARS (CRB) HAVE BECOME WIDELY USED FOR CRACK CONTROL IN MANY REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES EXPOSED TO AGGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENTS. A LIMITED AMOUNT OF DATA IS AVAILABLE REGARDING THE CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS MATERIAL. MORE INFORMATION IS NECESSARY TO FULLY UNDERSTAND CRB TECHNOLOGY AND TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCING LARGER DIAMETER BAR MATERIAL OF THIS NATURE TO SUCCESSFULLY USE AS DOWEL BARS AT PAVEMENT JOINTS ON OUR HIGHWAYS. THIS PROPOSAL INTENDS TO ANALYZE CURRENT CRB TECHNOLOGY AND DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCING LARGER DIAMETER COMPOSITE REINFORCING BARS THAT CAN BE USED AS FIBER COMPOSITE DOWEL BARS USING CRB TECHNOLOGY. THE GOAL IS TO PRODUCE FIBER COMPOSITE DOWEL BARS OF COMPARABLE SHEAR AND FATIGUE STRENGTH OF CURRENTLY USED STEEL DOWEL BARS BEING UTILIZED IN FEDERAL HIGHWAY PAVEMENT DESIGN.