Ali Mansour Khaki - Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Iran University of Science & Technology,Tehran
Ehsan Azadravesh - M. Sc. of Road &Transportation Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran

A 3D FE model is generated by ABAQUS for evaluating the effects of joint opening on load transfer efficiency in concrete pavements. The modeling method details are presented as well. For dowel and concrete modeling, C3D8R elements are used. The dowel-concrete interaction is simulated by hard contact model. The model consists of two concrete slab connected at transverse joint using steel dowels. Various amounts of joint opening are evaluated and after loading the slabs, load transfer efficiency is measured. The obtained results show that as the amount of joint opening increases due to slab contraction, the load transfer efficiency decreases.

concrete pavement, load transfer efficiency, finite element, Abaqus