Impact of various dowel bars techniques in joints of plain concrete connected rigid pavements: Experimental and numerical investigations

• Different dowel techniques for load transfer between connected concrete slabs are reported. • Increasing dowel length improved load transfer and crack patterns in the slabs. • End anchors prevented debonding and increased yielding and ultimate loads. • Using SHCC improved load distribution, energy absorption, and stiffness. • The FEM accurately simulated the experimental results and confirmed the benefits of thicker base layers and advanced materials. This study investigates the effectiveness of different dowel bar techniques in enhancing the performance of joints connecting concrete slabs in jointed plain concrete pavement. Eighteen specimens were divided into three groups to explore the influence of various factors including dowel embedment length (100 mm, 150 mm, and 200 mm) on joint behavior, dowel anchors provided to the ends of the dowels, and the effect of incorporating strain-hardening cementitious composites in the middle slab on joint performance. Results revealed that increasing dowel length improved load transfer efficiency and resulted in more favorable crack patterns, while end anchors further enhanced crack distribution by preventing debonding between the dowel and concrete. Longer dowels increased ultimate load capacity by 38 %. This increase was 30 %, and 10 %, for specimens with end anchors and strain-hardening cementitious composites, respectively. Both longer dowels and strain-hardening cementitious composites significantly enhanced energy absorption capacity. Finally, a finite element model developed to simulate the behavior of the tested specimens showed good agreement with the experimental data. Based on the finite element results, increasing the base layer thickness, using advanced concrete materials like strain-hardening cementitious composites, or incorporating anchors can significantly enhance the structural performance of jointed plain concrete pavement.