  The purpose of this study is to describe the failure of concrete around dowel
bars in jointed rigid pavements, and the resulting effect on the pavement
performance. In fact, under repetitive vehicle loading, concrete in contact
with the dowel bar deteriorates, particularly at the joint face. The
degradation of concrete around the dowel negatively affects the latter's
performance in terms of transferring wheel loads through vertical shear action.
In this context, a nonlinear 3D Finite Element analysis was performed using the
commercial FE code Abaqus (v-6.11). The FE model was validated with classical
analytical solutions of shear and moment along the dowel. A concrete damaged
plasticity model was used for the PCC slab to model the degradation of concrete
matrix around the dowels under incremental loading. Results obtained show,
among other things, that the degradation of concrete matrix around the dowel
was found to initiate at the face of the joint and propagate towards the
interior of the dowel. Also, results obtained confirmed the decrease in load
transfer capability of the dowels as the PCC matrix deteriorates. The central
dowels under the wheel load lost a significant portion of their load-transfer
capacity as the PCC matrix around them deteriorated, while dowels farther away
from the wheel load became more engaged in load transfer.
