Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Dowel Bars have a number of advantages when used as load transfer devices for extended life pavement. The Achilles Heel of concrete pavement is the joint. Joint failure is often the result of corrosion of the steel dowel bar. Aslan 600 Dowels will not rust or corrode, locking a concrete joint together or causing spalling of the surrounding concrete. In addition, while providing the necessary shear capacity at the joint, the lower stiffness of the GFRP Dowel bars may reduce fatigue stresses in the concrete surrounding the dowel.

• Impervious to chloride ion and chemical attack
• Tensile strengths greater than steel
• Modulus approaching that of steel and three times that of GFRP Rebar
• Better utilization of fibre properties as dictated by AC1440.1R-01
• 1/5th the weight of steel reinforcing
• Surface treatment to enhance bond to portland cement for new construction, and grout or structural epoxies when used for NSM strengthening.
  

Aslan 600 Dowel Bars are smooth and round. An Elliptical Dowel bar is available in a diameter that would be equivalent to a 1.71” round rod. Many benefits in concrete joint performance are anticipated with the greater bearing area under the dowel offered by the elliptical shape. Elliptical dowels are to be used with the wider plane horizontal.

* Elliptical

** Nominal Diameter is equated to a round rod.
Hughes Brothers reserves the right to make improvements in the product and/or process which may result in benefits or changes to some physical-mechanical characteristics. Please refer to our web site at www.hughesbros.com for the most current values. The data contained herein is considered representative of current production and is believed to be reliable and to represent the best available characterization of the product as of October 2002.

ASTM D4475 Shear Test		Shear Test Fixture	Tested 1-1/2” GFRP Dowel
The shear strength of the GFRP Dowels is measured in two ways, shear in bending and pure shear. The bending shear test used is a standard ASTM test placing the dowel bar in a three point loading fixture. Also known as a short beam shear test.		In the case of pure shear, a special test fixture is used to shear the dowel in two planes. The shear strength is determined from the double shear test.

In 1983, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) installed several alternative dowel bars for long-term durability performance studies in sections of Interstate 77 in Guernsey County and Ohio State Route 7 in Belmont County. These dowel bars were produced with the same constituent materials as in the Aslan 600 GFRP Dowels. In 1998, the Market Development Alliance (MDA) of the composites industry organized the extraction and testing of samples of these dowel bars to determine their durability performance after 15 years of in pavement service. These results show that the GFRP Dowel Bars were virtually unaffected by approximately 15 years of field service and exposure.

In addition, Hughes Brothers GFRP Dowel Bars were incorporated in a high performance pavement research project in 1997 in the northbound lanes of US 65 bypass near Des Moines, IA. Indications are that the FRP Dowels are performing well. In September of 2002, a section of Iowa Highway 330 near Marshalltown was paved using Aslan 600 Elliptical GFRP Dowel Bars. Again, this section of highway was instrumented and is being monitored by Iowa State University. Additional alternative Dowel Bar projectsutilizing FRP Dowels have been installed in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Manitoba.