THE DIAMOND DOWEL® SYSTEM

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Proven Load Transfer System

Achieve superior load transfer at construction joints with the original plate dowel system. Since 1996, contractors and engineers have used the Diamond Dowel® System in more than one billion square feet of concrete slabs-on-ground to deliver the durable, maintenance-free concrete flatwork customers expect.

The Diamond Dowel® System helps you:

  • Collect retainage
  • Reduce call backs
  • Save labor
  • Optimize the amount of steel in a project
  • Deliver serviceable slabs-on-ground
  • Shorten construction schedules

Design Advantages

  • Diamond-shaped tapered load plate allows the slab to move horizontally in all directions without restraint
  • The tapered shape and the Diamond Dowel® pocket former allow for 0.375 inch of lateral movement at a joint that opens 1/8 inch
  • Provides 6.36" at the joint where the bearing, shear and flexural stress are the highest
  • Limits differential deflection across joints to minimize joint spalling
  • Can be located up to within six inches of a joint intersection

Installation Advantages

  • Reduces labor costs by at least 50 percent when compared to round dowel installation
  • Bulkhead stripping is made simple; there are no dowels to spin and remove
  • Use the Diamond Dowel® installation template to reduce labor by a further 50 percent and ensure perfect alignment
  • The plate does not penetrate the bulkhead and no bulkhead drilling is required
  • The pocket former has internal collapsible fins that hold the diamond-shaped plate in the correct position and creates a void to its inside vertical faces
  • High density plastic pocket former will not compress significantly under the vertical load and will not therefore impact the load transfer capacity
  • Use of locally available wood bulkheads reduces lead times and freight costs. The Diamond Dowel System® pocket former and plate dowels are available through our national distribution network.

Note: Refer to the PD3 Basket® assembly section of the web site for dowel size and spacing for saw-cut contraction joints.
Dowel size and spacing for construction and saw-cut contraction joints

Source Material: ACI 360R-06, Design of Slabs-on-Ground, Tables 5.1 & 5.2; ACI 302.IR-04, Guide for Concrete Floor and Slab Construction, Tables 3.1 & 3.2
* Total dowel length includes allowance made for joint opening and minor errors in positioning dowels
** Rectangular plates are typically used in saw-cut contraction joints
*** Construction tolerances required make it impractical to use diamond-shaped load plates in saw-cut contraction joints
Note: Table values based on maximum opening of 0.20 in.(mm). Dowels must be carefully aligned and supported during concrete operations. Misaligned dowels may lead to cracking.

Round Dowel/Diamond-Shaped Plate Dowel Conversions for Equivalent Load Transfer

Source Material: "Plate Dowels for Slabs on Ground". Wayne W. Walker and Jerry A. Holland. ACI Concrete International, July 1998.

©2008 PNA Construction Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Diamond Dowel®, PD3 Basket®, Load Plate Basket® and Armor-Edge® are registered trademarks and HydraCure™ and Square Dowel Clip™ are trademarks of PNA Construction Technologies, Inc. Products shown may be covered by one or more of U.S.patents #6,775,952, #6,354,760, #5618125; Great Britain patent #1034340; Mexico patent #22942;New Zealand patent #504785; India patent #203607 and other pending patents.