Dowel action and aggregate interlocking are the main mechanisms for shear transfer at RC joints and cracks. Dowel action is the only transfer agent across precast joints like those in some kinds of RC pavements. Behavior of RC pavement is affected by the load transfer capability at the joint. Efficiency of such a structure is directly related to the transferred loads. Therefore, analyzing joint and crack performance in pavements has an important role and also depends on using proper behavioral models to simulate load transfer mechanism. In this paper, shear transfer mechanism through dowel bars in RC pavements has been investigated based on the beam on elastic foundation theory (BEF) and has been extended to beam on inelastic foundation (BIF) to take account of the nonlinear interaction between concrete and reinforcement bars. In fact, the main objective is to provide a method which significantly reduces the calculation and analysis time while having acceptable accuracy. Model verification has been carried out in two parts (RC interfaces and RC pavements) in comparison with experimental results.
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