Vincent
T. H. Chu
is renowned internationally as
walking
encyclopedia of civil engineering.
Author of a number of
widely acclaimed
civil engineering books, Mr Chu is recipient of various reputed awards
including Young Engineer of
the Year Award 2008
(Merit) by the Hong
Kong
Institution of Engineers &Ombudsman’s
Award 2007 (under
complaint-related category). He is also listed
in
11th Edition of Marquis Who's
Who in Science and Engineering. ConcreteBasics.org
thanks him for his exemplary contribution to the cause of civil
engineers
around the world.
A longitudinal
joint consists of a tie bar placed at
the mid-depth of a concrete pavement .
Longitudinal joints are normally designed at a
regular spacing (e.g. 4.5m) to
accommodate the effect of differential settlement
of pavement foundation. When uneven settlement occurs, the tie bars in
longitudinal joints perform as hingeswhichallowforthesettlementof concrete carriageway.
It also caters to the
effect of warping of concrete due to
moisture and temperature gradients by permitting a small amount of
angular
movement to occur so that stresses induced by restrained warping
can be
avoided.
Dowel bars are
provided in longitudinal joints for the following reasons:
(i)In case of the occurrence of uneven
settlement between adjacent panels, dowel bars help to maintain a level
surface by
transfer of loads through dowel bars
(ii) to keep the
longitudinal joints close.
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Reference:200
Questions and
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Vincent Chu
