The Diamond Dowel® System consists of two components. A diamond shaped load plate (a square plate turned so that two corners line up with the joint), and a high density plastic pocket former that will not compress significantly under the vertical load and will not therefore impact the load transfer capacity of the Diamond Dowel® Plate. The pocket former is simply nailed to the form and is cast into the first slab. After the form is removed then the diamond shaped load plate simply slides snugly into the pocket former. The plate does not penetrate the form and no form drilling is required. Form stripping is made simple; there are no dowels to spin and remove.

The pocket former has internal collapsible fins that hold the diamond shaped load plate in the correct position and creates a void to its inside vertical faces. This void (in addition to its shape) allows for differential movement and prevents any horizontal stress accumulation at the joint thus reducing the likelihood of random cracking.

Diamond Dowel® Plate spacing…
Diamond Dowel® Plates offer an improved load transfer performance to that of conventional round dowels. Table 1. presents the products readily available for substituting conventional round dowels with Diamond Dowel Plates. Note that Diamond Dowel® Plates can be spaced further apart to offer an equivalency to round dowels in load carrying capacity.

Example Specification…
• all formed construction joints will incorporate the PNA Diamond Dowel® System of load transfer.
• Diamond Dowel® Plates will be saw cut from hot rolled plate per ASTM A36.
• The Diamond Dowel® System will be supplied by and installed to PNA’s recommendations. (Contact PNA Construction Technologies Inc. at 800-542-0214 for the most current installation guide).