Load-bearing capacity testing of dowel pin anchorage in granite cladding

To investigate the load-bearing capacity of a dowel pin anchorage, monotonic tests were performed. Results show that the ideal failure mode of the dowel pin cladding system is plastic shear or shear and bending deformation of the steel pin prior to rupture of the dowel. It was also found that the maximum load-bearing capacity of a 5 mm pin with sleeve is 30% higher than that without a sleeve, while that of the 8 mm pin system with sleeve is only 6% higher than that without sleeve, which means that the existence of the sleeve contributes to the load-bearing capacity to some extent. Cladding with 5 mm steel pins has two failure stages, namely, pin yielding and panel rupture, which allow the steel pins to deform plastically and dissipate energy before total failure of the anchorage. Cladding with 8 mm pins has only one failure stage, namely, sudden rupture of the panel without any prior warning signs. The rupture surface of the panel has an angle of 24 degrees to 29 degrees on the side surface, and 27 degrees to 33 degrees on the top surface. More comprehensive experimental and analytical studies are needed to develop a reliable calculation method of the failure load.