Dowel Optimizer Reduces Construction Cost and Improves Sustainability

The Dowel Optimizer from American Highway draws on the research of Robert Rodden and Jorge Olavarria and their Enhanced Integrated Dowel Model (EIDM) to provide project-specific design optimizations. 

This web-based software tool considers five key failure mechanisms to provide the most complete and accurate dowel design based on project-specific inputs.   

Inputs

The Dowel Optimizer guides users through four simple sets of inputs to provide the optimal dowel design for each application:    

1. Recording ‘Project Information’ allows users to save designs and access them later.
2. The ‘Wheels or Tires’ field requires users to input the load applied by an individual wheel or tire, the distance between wheels on an axel, the wheel type and contact area. For interior slabs, the wheel type determines the maximum allowable differential deflection to match the recommendations of ACI 360R-10. For pavements, users may desire to run two designs to consider the steer axel and tandem axel loads of typical 18-wheel trucks.
3. The slab or pavement ‘Structure’ uses joint spacing and concrete shrinkage as primary inputs to calculate the expected joint opening and requires direct inputs for the subgrade support, concrete strength and design thickness.
4. The ‘Dowel Type’ is also an input. This gives designers total flexibility to choose the dowel type best suited for their project application.   

The ‘Results’ page provides the optimal dowel size and spacing based (i.e., that minimizes the dowel steel placed in the concrete slab joints) on the project specific inputs and provides tabs for uses to save designs for future reference and print reports for project submittals.   

Ease of Use and Tutorials 

Clear notes are provided to guide users through each input required, and on-line tutorial videos are available to provide in-depth information regarding the development, use, and features of the software.  

American Highways Dowel Optimizer provides owners, designers, and contractors with a simple way to ensure performance while reducing costs and promoting sustainable designs. It provides reliability in design to reduce joint spalling and callbacks for contractors to fix spalled joints. The Dowel Optimizer is free and readily available at design.americanhighway.com. 

American Highway would like to thank Robert Rodden and Jorge Olavarria for the research and development of the EIDM that made the Dowel Optimizer possible.