Hi folks,
I recently came to work for a well-established construction company, and their typical detail is 1/2" x 3" slick rods at 12" on center for use in construction (cold) joints in industrial slabs. I have never seen dowels this small (diameter or length) used for load transfer (my previous standard was 3/4" rods 12" long). Particular slab in question is 10" thick in industrial environment with heavy fork truck traffic. They are adamant that this is all they have ever used and that they've had no problems, but I cannot find any guidance that supports such small dowels. However, all of the articles I can find on load transfer dowels are from FHWA, presumably because they've done the majority of the testing, and our company's stance is that this research doesn't apply because an industrial slab with fork truck traffic is quite different from highway loading. Can anyone weigh in with their opinion, and also point me to any written guidance for dowel size, length and spacing for industrial slabs? I'm uncomfortable signing off on these, even though "they've always worked for us."
Thank you!!!
I recently came to work for a well-established construction company, and their typical detail is 1/2" x 3" slick rods at 12" on center for use in construction (cold) joints in industrial slabs. I have never seen dowels this small (diameter or length) used for load transfer (my previous standard was 3/4" rods 12" long). Particular slab in question is 10" thick in industrial environment with heavy fork truck traffic. They are adamant that this is all they have ever used and that they've had no problems, but I cannot find any guidance that supports such small dowels. However, all of the articles I can find on load transfer dowels are from FHWA, presumably because they've done the majority of the testing, and our company's stance is that this research doesn't apply because an industrial slab with fork truck traffic is quite different from highway loading. Can anyone weigh in with their opinion, and also point me to any written guidance for dowel size, length and spacing for industrial slabs? I'm uncomfortable signing off on these, even though "they've always worked for us."
Thank you!!!