Dowel bars
Dowel bars are placed at the transverse joints of concrete pavement and they take part in partial wheel load transfer from one slab to its adjacent slab. The dowel bars also allow axial thermal expansion and contraction of the concrete slab along the axis of the dowel.
Tie bars
Tie bars are deformed rebars or connectors used for holding faces of rigid slabs in contact to maintain aggregate interlock. Tie bars are not load transferring device. For instance, tie bars are used in longitudinal joints in concrete pavement.
Difference between dowel bars and tie bars
Advantages
- Dowels and Tie bars significantly improve performance of pavement joints
- Although they increase the initial cost but reduce Life Cycle Cost.
