What are round bars?

Also known as dowel bars, round bars are steel bars that are placed between concrete slabs to help transfer the load from one slab to the other. Round bars reinforce the connection between slabs and improve the performance of pavement joints.

These bars are essential when building roads as these are ideal to carry the stress and load caused by moving vehicles. Round bars also reduce corner cracking of concrete slabs and the risk of structural damage. Dowel bars can be used in various other applications.

At Speedy Fixings, we can produce a wide selection of round bars and dowels in mild steel and stainless steel (A2-304). Price is available on application. So, contact our team for further information. Call our sales team on 01206 793100 today.

Benefits of round bars.

  • transfer the load from one concrete slab to its adjacent slab
  • reinforce the connection between concrete slabs
  • increase the load-carrying capacity of concrete slabs
  • reduce the life cycle cost
  • improve performance of pavement joints
  • reduce corner cracking of concrete slabs
  • reduce the risk of structural damage
  • can be used for various applications
  • carry load and stress from moving vehicles
Heavy duty concrete and dowel bar
Heavy-duty concrete and dowel bars. Image by Oran Viriyincy.

How are dowel bars placed?

Round bars are usually placed at the transverse contraction joint of concrete slabs (mid-depth of the slab) and must be parallel to the centre line. Half of the round bar should be embedded in one of the concrete slabs and the other part is bonded in the adjacent concrete slab. By having dowel bars placed this way, it offers some movement during expansion and contract of the concrete.

As Guidelines for Dowel Alignment in Concrete Pavements mentions, if dowel bars are not placed accurately, it reduced their effectiveness and ability to provide proper joint load transfer efficiency. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to properly place dowel bars. If you have any questions about our products, don’t hesitate to contact our team. We can be easily reached on mobile on 01206 793100 or via email at [email protected].