Experimental investigation on the structural performance of the high-strength ring strengthened dowel connection under monotonic load

Traditional dowel connections embedded into concrete are susceptible to localised concrete crushing under heavy wheel loads. To address this issue, this paper introduces an innovative high-strength ring strengthened dowel connection to improve the bearing resistance of concrete at the joint surface. Monotonic load tests were conducted to investigate the effects of the high-strength ring concrete compressive strength, the high-strength ring thickness and length on improving ultimate load and mitigating localised concrete crushing. Test results indicated that the ultimate load and the initial stiffness of the specimen were greatly improved after applying the high-strength rings. Because of the excellent compressive resistance of the ring concrete, the initiation of the crushing zone was delayed, and the maximum compressive stress in normal strength concrete was reduced with the increase of the ring thickness. In addition, the deflection response of the dowel connection embedded into concrete could be predicted by the beam on elastic foundation (BEF) and the beam on inelastic foundation (BIF) theories. Based on the deformation of the dowel connection and surrounding concrete, the analytical solution was derived to predict the ultimate load of the high-strength ring strengthened dowel connection embedded into concrete.