Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruc

Modeling dowel action of reinforcement bars for ®nite element

analysis of concrete structures
X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan *
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
Received 23 July 1999; accepted 27 May 2000

Abstract
A numerical model for the dowel action of reinforcement bars crossing cracks in concrete is developed for ®nite
element analysis of concrete structures. The beam on elastic foundation theory is used to derive the dowel force±dis-
placement relationship, which is expressed in a smeared form in terms of dowel stress and strain in order to be com-
patible with the smeared crack and smeared reinforcement models commonly used in ®nite element analysis. This dowel
action model is incorporated in a ®nite element program that employs secant sti€ness formulation and a displacement
controlled iteration scheme for nonlinear analysis. Using the ®nite element program, the nonlinear behaviors of several
reinforced concrete beams tested by others are analyzed well into the post-peak range. The beams are analyzed ®rst with
the dowel action neglected and then again with the dowel action incorporated. It is found that in certain cases, the
dowel action can have signi®cant e€ects on the shear strength and ductility of reinforced concrete beams and that the
analytical results generally agree better with the experimental values when the dowel action is taken into ac-
count. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cracks; Dowel action; Finite element analysis; Reinforced concrete structures

1. Introduction the shear cracks (Vd ), as shown in Fig. 1. The relative

Whilst the ¯exural behavior of reinforced concrete
members can be quite accurately predicted using simple
bending theories, accurate prediction of the shear be-
havior of reinforced concrete members remains a for-
midable task even with the use of sophisticated ®nite
element methods. This is due to the complexity of the
shear transfer mechanism in reinforced concrete and the
lack of suitable models for the various actions that
contribute to the shear transfer. Contributions to the
shear transfer generally include direct transfer of shear
force by the uncracked concrete (Vc ), tensile force of the
stirrups crossing the shear cracks (Vs ), aggregate inter-
lock of the naturally rough surfaces at the shear cracks
(Va ), and dowel action of the reinforcement bars crossing
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2859-2668; fax: +852-
2559-5337.
importance of these shear transfer components depends
on many factors such as the geometry of the member,
the arrangement of the applied loads, the reinforcement
layout and the crack pattern. Furthermore, the contri-
butions of these components keep on changing when the
applied loads increase due to internal stress redistribu-
tion as the concrete cracks and the reinforcement bars
yield.
The contributions of the uncracked concrete, the
stirrups and the aggregate interlock can be modeled
using normal ®nite element procedures, but so far the
dowel action of the reinforcement bars has not been
explicitly represented in ®nite element analysis, albeit it
is well recognized to be an important component of
shear transfer. At the most, only a gross representation,
in which the dowel action is lumped together with the
other components of shear transfer, is incorporated to
predict the overall shear behavior of reinforced concrete
members [1]. From a literature survey on ®nite element

0045-7949/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 5 - 7 9 4 9 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 5 8 - 9
596 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604

Nomenclature

As sectional area of steel reinforcement bar
Asx , Asy sectional areas of reinforcement bars run-
ning in x- and y-directions
‰ DŠ constitutive matrix of concrete and steel re-
 0 inforcement
‰Dc Š, Dc constitutive matrices of concrete in global
and local coordinate systems
‰D s Š constitutive matrix of steel reinforcement
db diameter of reinforcement bar
E0 , Ec initial modulus of elasticity and secant
modulus of elasticity at peak stress
E1 , E2 secant moduli of elasticity of concrete in
direction 1 and direction 2
Es modulus of elasticity of steel reinforcement
bar
Esx , Esy secant moduli of elasticity of reinforcement
bars in x- and y-directions
fc0 uniaxial compressive strength of concrete
fy yield stress of steel reinforcement bar
G, G0 shear moduli of the cracked and uncracked
concrete respectively
Ga , Gd shear moduli of cracked concrete due to
aggregate interlock and dowel action
Is moment of inertia of reinforcement bar
Kd dowel sti€ness of reinforcement bar crossing
a crack
Kdx , Kdy respective values of Kd for reinforcement
bars running in x- and y-directions
kc foundation modulus of surrounding con-
crete
` length of reinforcement bar subjected to
signi®cant dowel deformation
`x , `y respective values of ` for reinforcement bars
running in x- and y-directions
Vd dowel force developed in reinforcement bar
Vdx , Vdy respective value of Vd for reinforcement bars
running in x- and y-directions
Vdu dowel force developed in reinforcement bar
at ultimate limit state
bb parameter accounting e€ect of bond action
to tension transfer across crack
bd parameter accounting e€ect of dowel action
to tension transfer across crack
D dowel displacement of reinforcement bar
crossing a crack in concrete
Dx , Dy respective values of D for reinforcement bars
running in x- and y-directions
e0c strain at peak compressive stress of concrete
under uniaxial compression
e1 , e1c tensile strain and strain at peak tensile stress
in direction 1
e2 , e2c compressive strain and strain at peak com-
pressive stress in direction 2
c12 shear strain across crack
k relative sti€ness of surrounding concrete
h angle of crack direction, i.e. angle of direc-
tion normal to plane of crack
qs reinforcement ratio in crack direction
qx , qy reinforcement ratios in x- and y-direction,
respectively.
r1 , r1c tensile stress and peak tensile stress in di-
rection 1
r2 , r2c compressive stress and peak compressive
stress in direction 2
sd12 dowel shear stress developed across the
crack
sdx , sdy dowel stresses developed by reinforcement
bars running in x- and y-directions

analysis of reinforced concrete structures covering pa-

pers published from 1985 to 1991 [2], it is noted that
modeling of the dowel action has never been mentioned
in any of the papers surveyed. This re¯ects to some ex-
tent the diculties involved.
There are three major diculties in modeling the
dowel action of reinforcement bars for ®nite element
analysis. Firstly, in experimental tests, the shear force
transferred by the dowel action is often embedded with
the other shear transfer components during shear force
measurement and is thus quite dicult to be measured
directly. Consequently, experimental results on the shear
transfer by dowel action have been rather limited. In
fact, since the dowel action involves interaction between
the reinforcement bars and the concrete near the cracks Fig. 1. Internal forces in a cracked beam showing the various
and the interaction stresses are extremely dicult to components of shear transfer.
 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604
measure, many details of the dowel action have never
been investigated.
Secondly, the mechanism of the dowel action is too
complicated to be described in a simple manner. To
analyze the details of the dowel action, the steel bars
need to be individually modeled by ®nite elements and a
very ®ne mesh has to be used for the concrete. As a
result, the number of elements required would be very
large. Furthermore, such discrete element approach of
modeling each steel bar individually is not compatible
with the common practice of modeling the cracks and
the steel bars in smeared forms in the analysis of rein-
forced concrete structures. To incorporate the dowel
action in the global analysis of reinforced concrete
structures, a simpli®ed model of the dowel action that is
compatible with the smeared crack and smeared rein-
forcement models is required.
Thirdly, since the dowel action is usually more sig-
ni®cant near peak load and at the post-peak stage, ex-
perimental testing or theoretical analysis extending well
into the post-peak range are needed to investigate the
full e€ects of the dowel action, but such testing and
analysis are generally quite dicult.
Despite the aforementioned diculties, it is consid-
ered worthy of attempting to incorporate the dowel
action of reinforcement bars in the ®nite element anal-
ysis of shear critical members. The dowel action of re-
inforcement bars can play an important role if the other
contributions to shear transfer are relatively small, as in
the case of a beam with a small amount of web rein-
forcement. Furthermore, since the dowel action becomes
more fully developed at the post-peak stage of the
loading process, it may contribute signi®cantly to
the post-peak resistance and hence shear ductility of
the concrete members.
In this paper, a numerical model of the dowel action
is developed for incorporation in the ®nite element
analysis of reinforced concrete structures. Since its
dowel force±displacement relationship is expressed in a
smeared form, it is compatible with the smeared crack
and reinforcement models commonly used in ®nite ele-
ment analysis.
2. Method of analysis
In order to extend the analysis into the post-peak
range within which the tangent sti€ness can become zero
or negative, secant sti€ness is used in the formulation of
the sti€ness matrices. For the nonlinear analysis, an it-
erative procedure with the loads applied incrementally is
used. At each load increment step, direct iteration using
the secant sti€ness of the structure is employed. Details
of such a direct iteration method have been given by
Zienkiewicz and Taylor [3]. With this method, the loads
597
can be applied either directly in the form of prescribed
loads or indirectly in the form of prescribed displace-
ments at the loading points. In the present study, the
loads are applied indirectly through prescribed dis-
placements as in loading tests carried out under dis-
placement control.
3. Modeling of concrete and steel reinforcement
The concrete and the steel bars embedded inside are
together modeled by a plane stress element, which is a
four-noded isoparametric quadrilateral element with
two extra non-conforming bending modes included to
remove shear locking. A 2  2 grid of Gauss points is
used in the numerical integration to obtain the element
sti€ness matrix. The constitutive matrix ‰DŠ consists of
two parts, i.e., ‰DŠ ˆ ‰Dc Š ‡ ‰Ds Š, in which ‰Dc Š is the part
contributed by the concrete and ‰Ds Š is the part con-
tributed by the steel bars inside the concrete. Formula-
tions of the constitutive matrices are presented below.
3.1. Constitutive matrix of concrete
Before cracking, the concrete is assumed isotropic
and its constitutive matrix is formulated in the usual way
by taking account of the biaxial behavior of the material
and the nonlinearity of the stress±strain curve.
After cracking, the concrete becomes orthotropic.
The cracks are modeled in a smeared form, and the
tensile and shear strains gauged across the cracks are
expressed in terms of averaged values within the domain
over which the strains are measured, as depicted in Fig.
2. Neglecting the Poisson e€ect after cracking, the con-
stitutive matrix of the cracked concrete in the local co-
ordinate system, whose two axes: directions 1 and 2, are,
respectively, perpendicular and parallel to the planes of
the cracks, is given by
Fig. 2. Stresses and strains in cracked concrete (tension posi-
tive).
598 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604
2 3
  E1 0 0
D0c ˆ4 0 E2 05 …
0 0 G (equal to 2 for plain round bars and 4 for ribbed bars)
in which E1 and E2 are the secant moduli of elasticity of
the concrete in directions 1 and 2, respectively, and G is
the secant shear modulus of the cracked concrete. From
this matrix, the constitutive matrix in the global coor-
dinate system may be obtained as
 
‰Dc Š ˆ ‰Tc Št D0c ‰Tc Š; …2†
where ‰Tc Š is a transformation matrix.
As the concrete cracks, the tensile stress across the
cracks drops but would not disappear immediately.
There is a tension softening stage during which the
tensile stress across the cracks gradually decreases to
zero. Although establishing a de®nite stress±strain rela-
tion during the tension softening stage is dicult [4,5], it
is well accepted that the inclusion of tension softening in
the ®nite element analysis will give better results. Herein,
the stress±strain relation proposed by Guo and Zhang
[5] is adopted. It is expressed as
e
r1 1
e1c
ˆ  1:7 ; …3†
r1c
a ee1c1 ÿ 1 ‡ ee1c1
where r1 and e1 are the tensile stress and strain of the
concrete in direction 1, r1c and e1c are the peak stress and
the corresponding strain of the concrete under tension in
direction 1, and a is a parameter dependent on the grade
of the concrete.
In reinforced concrete, part of the tensile stress in the
concrete is transferred across the cracks through the
reinforcement bars there. The reinforcement bars con-
tribute to the tensile stress transfer across the cracks by
developing (1) local increase in axial stress near the
cracks due to bond action, and (2) shear stress in rein-
forcement bars crossing the cracks at acute angles due
to dowel action. From the theoretical study of Stevens
et al. [6] and the experiments conducted by Wollrab
et al. [7], it is evident that the tensile stress transfer due
to the bond action is in¯uenced by the amount, orien-
tation and bond characteristics of the reinforcement
bars. However, no precise formula has been given for
estimating the e€ect of the bond action. Before more
tests are carried out and such a formula is available, it
is proposed to take into account the contribution of the
bond action by adding a parameter bb to the expression
given in Eq. (3). Likewise, it is proposed to take into
account the contribution of the dowel action by adding
a parameter bd . After incorporating the bond and dowel
actions, Eq. (3) becomes:
e
1
r1 e1c
ˆ …1 ÿ bb †  1:7 ‡ bb ‡ bd 6 1:0; …
r1c
a ee1c1 ÿ 1 ‡ ee1c1
where the parameter bb is given by bb ˆ kb qs , in which kb
1† is a coecient dependent on the bond characteristics
and qs is the reinforcement ratio in the crack direction as
calculated by qs ˆ qx cos2 h ‡ qy sin2 h (qx and qy are re-
inforcement ratios in x- and y-directions). Derivation of
the parameter bd will be explained later. An upper limit
of r1c is set to r1 because the concrete will crack again
when r1 exceeds r1c . Having determined the value of r1 ,
the secant modulus of elasticity E1 may be calculated as
r1 =e1 for subsequent iterations in the analysis.
After cracking, the compressive strength and sti€ness
of the concrete in the direction parallel to the crack
planes would gradually decrease as the tensile strain
across the cracks increases. According to Vecchio and
Collins [8], the compressive strength of the concrete in
the direction parallel to the crack planes varies with the
tensile strain in the direction normal to crack planes as
in the following equation:
r2c 1
ˆ 6 1:0; …5†
fc0 0:8 ÿ 0:34 ee0c1
where fc0 and e0c are the peak stress and the corre-
sponding strain of the concrete under uniaxial com-
pression, e1 is the tensile strain in direction 1, and r2c is
the peak stress of the cracked concrete under compres-
sion in direction 2. Having determined r2c , the stress±
strain relation in direction 2 may be evaluated using
SaenzÕs equation [9] as follows:
  
E0 e2
r2 Ec e2c
ˆ     2 ; …6†
r2c
1 ‡ EE0c ÿ 2 ee2c2 ‡ ee2c2
where E0 is the initial modulus of elasticity, Ec is the
secant modulus of elasticity at peak stress and e2c is
the concrete strain at peak stress in direction 2. Using
the value of r2 obtained from the above equation, the
secant modulus of elasticity E2 may be determined as
r2 =e2 for forming the constitutive matrix of the concrete.
Regarding shear, although the cracks are initially
formed in planes normal to the maximum principal
stress/strain direction and hence there should be no
shear across the cracks when the cracks are ®rst formed,
subsequent stress redistribution as the applied loads
further increase can induce signi®cant shear strain
across the cracks. Physically, the shear strain across the
cracks is actually the relative sliding movement of the
concrete at the two sides of the crack smeared over
a ®nite domain. As the two sides of the crack slides
against each other, shear stress is developed across the
cracks, which is taken up partly by aggregate interlock
along the crack surface and partly by dowel action of
the steel bars crossing the cracks. Therefore, the shear
4†
modulus of the cracked concrete G consists of two parts,
i.e., G ˆ Ga ‡ Gd , in which Ga is due to aggregate in-
 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604
terlock along the cracks and Gd is due to dowel action of
the steel bars. The derivation of Ga is given below, while
the derivation of Gd will be presented in the section on
dowel action.
Many researchers incorporate the aggregate interlock
in the ®nite element analysis by simply taking the value
of Ga as lG0 , where l is a shear retention factor <1.0
and G0 is the shear modulus before cracking. However,
in the study of Walraven [10], it was concluded that the
mechanism of aggregate interlock could only be ade-
quately described if the normal stress, shear stress and
crack width are all included. His test results indicated
that if the crack width remains constant, a linear relation
between the shear stress and shear strain exists, but if the
crack width increases, the shear modulus would de-
crease. Taking (e1 ÿ e1c ) as a measure of crack width, the
following is proposed for estimation of Ga :
 e1 ÿ e1c 2
Ga ˆ l 1 ÿ G0 P 0: …7†
0:004
3.2. Constitutive matrix of steel reinforcement
The steel reinforcement bars are assumed to be uni-
formly distributed throughout the concrete element
containing them. Adopting a smeared representation for
the steel bars, the constitutive matrix of the steel rein-
forcement bars can be expressed as
2 3
qx Esx 0 0
‰Ds Š ˆ 4 0 qy Esy 05 …8†
0 0 0 calculated from the dowel force as
in which Esx and Esy are the secant moduli of elasticity
of the steel bars in the x- and y-directions, respectively.
A tri-linear stress±strain relation is used for the steel
bars.
It should be noted that the bond action and dowel
action of the steel bars have not been considered in the
derivation of the constitutive matrix of steel reinforce-
ment. The contributions of the bond and dowel actions
of the steel bars to the tensile and shear stress transfers
across the cracks in concrete are treated as additional
stresses acting on the concrete and incorporated in the
derivation of the constitutive matrix of concrete.
4. Modeling of dowel action
In the proposed model, the dowel action of the re-
inforcement bars crossing cracks in concrete is repre-
sented in a smeared form in order to be compatible with
the smeared crack model and smeared reinforcement
model used in the ®nite element analysis.
599
4.1. Dowel forces and displacements
Consider the cracked concrete element containing a
reinforcement bar crossing the crack perpendicularly in
Fig. 3. When the concrete blocks at the two sides of the
crack slide against each other, the reinforcement bar
embedded inside the concrete is subjected to dowel dis-
placement, which is de®ned as the relative transverse
displacement of the two ends of the reinforcement bar.
Due to the dowel deformation so caused, transverse
shear force and contra¯exural bending moment are de-
veloped in the reinforcement bar. However, only a cer-
tain length of the bar in the vicinity of the crack is
subjected to signi®cant dowel deformation. Denoting
the length of the bar subjected to signi®cant dowel de-
formation by `, the dowel displacement D may be cal-
culated from the shear strain across the crack c12 using
the following equation:
D ˆ `c12 : …9†
The dowel force Vd developed in the bar varies with the
dowel displacement D according to a certain dowel
force±displacement relation. Using the secant sti€ness
formulation, the dowel force and the dowel displace-
ment can be related by
Vd ˆ Kd D; …10†
where Kd is the secant dowel sti€ness of the reinforce-
ment bar. The dowel force Vd acts against the concrete
and may be smeared over the crack surface as a dowel
stress acting across the crack. The dowel stress may be
qs
sd12 ˆ Vd …11†
As
in which qs is the reinforcement ratio in the crack di-
rection and As is the sectional area of the reinforcement
Fig. 3. Dowel action of a reinforcement bar crossing a crack
perpendicularly.
600 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604

qy
sdy ˆ Vdy ; …15b†
Asy

where Asx and Asy are the sectional areas of the two re-
inforcement bars in the x- and y-directions, and qx and
qy are the reinforcement ratios in the x- and y-directions.
The dowel stresses can be transformed to tensile and
shear stresses across the cracks using the following
equations:
rd1 ˆ …sdx ‡ sdy † cosh sin h; …16a†

sd12 ˆ sdx cos2 h ÿ sdy sin2 h: …16b†

Fig. 4. Cracked concrete elements containing reinforcements
bars crossing the cracks at acute angles. Putting the above equations together, the contribution
of the dowel action of the reinforcement bars to the
development of tensile and shear stresses across the
crack can be obtained as
bar. Putting Eqs. (9)±(11) together, the dowel stress sd12 " # " qx #  
may be expressed in terms of the shear strain across the rd1 Kdx `x 0 e1
t Asx
crack c12 as ˆ ‰Td Š qy ‰T d Š …17†
sd12 0 K `
Asy dy y c12
q
sd12 ˆ s Kd `c12 : …12†
As in which the transformation matrix ‰Td Š is given by
 
The case of a reinforcement bar crossing a crack at cosh sin h cos2 h
‰Td Š ˆ 2 : …18†
an acute angle is more complicated because apart from cosh sin h ÿ sin h
the shear strain, the tensile strain across the crack can
also cause dowel displacement of the reinforcement bar. At each iteration step in the ®nite element analysis,
Consider the cracked concrete element containing a re- the values of rd1 and sd12 are evaluated from the tensile
inforcement bar running in the x-direction in Fig. 4(a) and shear strains across the crack using Eq. (17). From
and the cracked concrete element containing a rein- the stress values so obtained, the parameter bd repre-
forcement bar running in the y-direction in Fig. 4(b). senting the contribution of the dowel action towards the
The dowel displacements Dx of the bar running in the x- tensile stress transfer across the cracks and the shear
directions and Dy of the bar running in the y-directions modulus Gd representing the contribution of the dowel
are given, respectively, by action towards the shear stress transfer across the cracks
may be determined as
Dx ˆ `x …e1 cos h sin h ‡ c12 cos2 h†; …13a†
rd1
bd ˆ ; …19†
r1c
Dy ˆ `y …e1 cosh sin h ÿ c12 sin2 h†: …13b†

The dowel forces Vdx and Vdy developed in the two re-
inforcement bars running in the x- and y-directions,
respectively, may be obtained from the dowel force±
displacement relations of the reinforcement bars as
Vdx ˆ Kdx Dx ; …
Vdy ˆ Kdy Dy …
in which Kdx is the secant dowel sti€ness of the bar
running in the x-direction and Kdy is that of the bar
running in the y-direction. It should be noted that the
dowel force Vdx of the bar in the x-direction acts in the y-
direction while the dowel force Vdy of the bar in the y-
direction acts in the x-direction. The corresponding
dowel stresses developed by the reinforcement bars are
qx
sdx ˆ Vdx ; …
Asx
sd12
Gd ˆ : …20†
c12
The value of bd is substituted into Eq. (4) to evaluate r1
and E1 , while the value of Gd is added to Ga for calcu-
14a† lating the value of G. Hence, the dowel action of rein-
forcement bars is allowed for by modifying the values of
14b† E1 and G in the derivation of the constitutive matrix of
concrete.
4.2. Dowel force±displacement relationship
The dowel action behavior of the reinforcement bars
can be analyzed by treating each reinforcement bar as a
beam and using the ``beam on elastic foundation'' the-
ory [11] to deal with the interaction between the rein-
forcement bar and the surrounding concrete. According
15a†
to the beam on elastic foundation theory, the foundation
 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604 601

coecient ranging from 0.6 for a clear bar spacing of 25

mm to 1.0 for larger bar spacing.
When the dowel deformation is not too large and
none of the materials have yielded, the dowel force±
displacement relation is linearly elastic. However, when
the elastic limit is exceeded, the dowel action becomes
plastic. At the ultimate limit state, local crushing of the
surrounding concrete and/or yielding of the dowel bar
occurs. Based on experimental results, Dulacska [14] has
Fig. 5. Analysis of dowel action using ``beam on elastic foun-
given the following equation for estimating the dowel
dation'' theory.
force at ultimate limit state Vdu :
q
 
may be treated as a bed of Winkler springs so that the
reaction force of the foundation at any point may be
assumed to be proportional to the de¯ection of the beam
at that point. Cutting the reinforcement bar subjected to
dowel action at the point of contra¯exure, the bar may
be treated as a semi-in®nite beam resting on the foun-
dation subjected to a concentrated load at one end, as
shown in Fig. 5. From the analytical solutions given for
the beam on elastic foundation problem, the relationship
between the dowel force Vd and the dowel displacement
under elastic condition may be obtained as
Vd ˆ Es Is k3 D; …
where Es is the modulus of elasticity of the steel, Is is the
moment of inertia of the bar (equal to pdb4 =64 in which
db is the diameter of the bar) and k, a parameter rep-
resenting the relative sti€ness of the foundation (i.e., the
surrounding concrete), is given by
s
4 kc db
kˆ …
4Es Is
in which, kc is the foundation modulus of the sur-
rounding concrete. Based on the closed form solution
for the de¯ected shape of the beam, the length of the bar
subjected to signi®cant dowel deformation ` may be
taken as
p
`ˆ : …23†
k
The foundation modulus for the surrounding con-
crete kc , which governs the dowel sti€ness as per Eq.
(22), is of considerable complexity and importance.
Results of past experimental research [12] had led to
somewhat scattered values for kc , ranging from 75 to 450
N/mm3 . Before more test data are available, the fol-
lowing data-®tting expression proposed by Soroushian
et al. [13] may be used:
q
Vdu ˆ 1:27db2 fc0 fy  …25†
in which, fc0 is the compressive strength of the concrete
and fy is the yield strength of dowel bar. A similar for-
mula has been proposed by Vintzeleou and Tassios [15].
Therefore, the above equation may be used to estimate
the dowel strength of reinforcement bars crossing cracks
in concrete.
Test results obtained by Dei Poli et al. [12], Dulacska
[14], and Vintzeleou and Tassios [15] have shown that
the dowel force±displacement relation is more or less
linearly elastic perfectly plastic. While the dowel action
21† is still linearly elastic, the dowel sti€ness Kd may be
calculated simply as Es Is k3 and when the dowel action
has become plastic, the dowel sti€ness Kd can be eval-
uated as Vdu =D. In the actual computer analysis, the
dowel sti€ness Kd is simply taken as the smaller of Es Is k3
and Vdu =D.
For reinforcement bars crossing cracks at acute an-
gles, it is assumed that the values of kc and Vdu would
22† remain the same and hence the values of Kd and ` can be
evaluated in the same way as above. Substituting the
values of Kd and ` into Eqs. (17), (19) and (20), the
dowel action of the reinforcement bars can be incorpo-
rated in the ®nite element analysis as presented in the
previous section.
5. Numerical analysis
To verify the proposed dowel action model, the deep
reinforced concrete beams tested recently by Ashour [16]
are analyzed and the analytical results are compared to
the experimental results. The beams are analyzed twice,
®rst with the dowel action neglected and then again with
the dowel action incorporated, in order to study the
signi®cance of the dowel action of the main reinforce-
ment bars contained in these beams.
  Three of the tested beams, CDB1, CDB2 and CDB3,
127c1 fc0  are selected for the analysis. The dimensions and rein-
kc ˆ …24†
db2=3 forcement details of the beams are shown in Fig. 6. The
top and bottom longitudinal reinforcement bars were 12
in which, fc0 is the compressive strength of the concrete in or 10 mm diameter high-yield ribbed steel bars with
N/mm2 , db is the diameter of the bar in mm, and c1 is a yield strengths of 500 and 400 MPa, respectively. The
602 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604

Fig. 6. Details of the beams tested and analyzed.

web reinforcement was 8 mm diameter mild steel bars

with a yield strength of 370 MPa. The compressive
strengths of the concrete for the beams CDB1, CDB2
and CDB3 were 30.0, 33.1 and 22.0 MPa, respectively.
During testing, a top steel spreader beam was used to
divide the total applied load from a compression ma-
chine into two equal point loads on the continuous
beam, one in each span. Half of each beam is analyzed
due to symmetry.
The ®nite element meshes and crack patterns of the
beams at their respective peak loads are shown in Fig. 7,
wherein the length of each line denoting a crack is
proportional to the average tensile strain of the cracked
concrete at that point. The crack patterns in Fig. 7 in-
dicate that the three beams fail in the same manner.
Although the crack patterns given in Fig. 7 are in Fig. 7. Failure patterns obtained by ®nite element analysis.
smeared form, it can be seen that the overall crack
patterns obtained by the ®nite element analysis coincide
quite closely with the test observation that when the sponses of the beams are in better agreement with the
applied load reached the peak, a major diagonal crack in test results. This reveals that the contribution of the
the intermediate shear span ran between the edges of the dowel action has a signi®cant in¯uence on the shear
applied load and the intermediate support plates. behavior of the three reinforced concrete beams. The
The load-de¯ection curves are plotted in Fig. 8. It is in¯uence of the dowel action becomes evident when
seen that when the dowel action is not taken into ac- the applied load approaches the peak. Beyond the peak,
count, the predicted strengths are lower than the corre- the e€ect of the dowel action is even more signi®cant
sponding experimental values. However, when the dowel especially when the aggregate interlock action along the
action is taken into account, the load-de¯ection re- cracks drops due to gradual increase of crack widths.
 X.G. He, A.K.H. Kwan / Computers and Structures 79 (2001) 595±604 603

bution of the dowel action is relatively small. In beam

CDB3, there is no web reinforcement at all and conse-
quently the dowel action plays a more important role in
resisting the applied shear force.

6. Conclusions

A model for the dowel action of reinforcement bars

crossing cracks in concrete is developed and incorpo-
rated in a ®nite element procedure for the nonlinear
analysis of reinforced concrete structures. It is compat-
ible with the smeared crack and reinforcement models
commonly used in ®nite element analysis because the
dowel force and dowel displacement are both repre-
sented in smeared forms. Its dowel force±displacement
relationship is derived base on the ``beam on elastic
foundation'' theory with the unknown parameters de-
termined by calibrating against the existing test data.
Application of the dowel action model to the analysis
of deep reinforced concrete beams tested by others ver-
i®ed that the proposed dowel action model and ®nite
element procedure can be e€ectively used to predict the
crack pattern, ultimate strength and full range load-
de¯ection behavior of shear critical reinforced concrete
members. The numerical results also showed that the
dowel action can have signi®cant e€ects on the shear
strength and ductility of reinforced concrete beams es-
pecially when the amount of web reinforcement in the
beam is relatively small. Thus, in the analysis of the
post-peak behavior of shear critical reinforced concrete
members, the dowel action should be taken into ac-
count.

Acknowledgements

The ®nancial support of the Croucher Foundation of

Hong Kong for the research work presented herein is
gratefully acknowledged.

Fig. 8. Load-de¯ection curves (DA is the dowel action).

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