View Results for Dowels
Selecting Results for Dowels from the Visualize menu allows shear and moment diagrams to be plotted and displays the peak shear and moment for any selected dowel. Figure 1 below shows the dowel results panel. The five force components that can be viewed include Nq (axial force), the shears Fr and Fs, and the moments Mr and Ms. The subscripts q, r and s refer to the dowel local coordinate system, and correspond to the global model (x,y,z) axes. The maximum values of shear and moment are displayed for the currently selected dowel at the bottom of the dowel results panel. These maximum values are computed as the magnitude of the r and s components, which is appropriate for a dowel with a circular cross-section. Generally, the reported maximum values for a given dowel will be very close in magnitude to the the peak values of Fs and Mr.
Figure 1: Dowel Results Panel
To view results for any dowel in the model, select it by left-clicking on that dowel in the model plan view, which will highlight the selected dowel in red. Then, to view the variation of a particular force component along the dowel length, check it in the dowel results panel and click the View Now button. As an example, consider the project "test_2_3_skew" that is installed with EverFE. Clicking on the bottom-most dowel will modify the dowel results panel to show a maximum shear of 2,819 N and a maximum moment of 97,323 N-mm. Then, clicking View Now with the Fs checkbox selected brings up the visualization window shown below in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Variation in Dowel Shear along Dowel Length
Note that the peak value for the dowel shear in the plot corresponds with the value of 2,819 N given in the dowel results panel. This shear is constant across the joint, the centerline of which is shown on the plot. Beam sign convention is used for all results (positive shear is up on the -x face and down on the +x face; a positive Mr produces compressive stress in the top of the dowel). The shear for this dowel is positive due to the axle load on the slab to the right of the joint. Figure 3 shows the variation in Mr along the dowel length, and indicates that the negative moment in the portion of the dowel embedded in the left-hand slab is nearly equal to the reported maximum moment.
Figure 3: Variation in Dowel Moment along Dowel Length
Note: The dowel shear and moment diagrams shown in this example are smooth curves because dowel-slab support and restraint moduli were specified. Alternatively, if dowel looseness is specified, the diagrams are often not smooth, but have sharp peaks and valleys. This is because dowel looseness is handled using a nodal contact approach, which can result in large concentrated forces on the dowels in regions where contact occurs. As an illustration, view the shear and moment diagrams for the dowels in the example "nine_slab_base" that is installed with EverFE.