is it incorrect to call pier/pedestal reinforcement of spread footing as vertical dowel?

[delagina]

i often see this used (for example, #6 vertical dowel with standard hook).
does dowel mean smooth bar?
if yes, should pier/pedestal of footing be called #6 vertical rebar instead?

 

[hokie66]

Terminology varies with location. In Australia, those bars are called "starter bars", and "dowel" normally means a bar, deformed or smooth, meant for resisting out of plane shear. English is a difficult language...one word can have many meanings.

 

[MotorCity]

In my neck of the woods, a dowel can be smooth or deformed. (They are usually smooth in an expansion joint or in a wall or slab joint).
In a pier or pedestal, the dowel is the shorter bar that crosses the plane of the footing and pier and is lapped with the vertical reinforcing in the pier or pedestal.

 

[KootK]

As far as I've been able to tell, a north american dowel meets these criterion:

1) Cylindrical in shape with a length well in excess of its diameter.

2) Crosses some kind of boundary like a cold joint.

This is why we communicate with little pictures. Even #1 is negotiable per the dowels shown below.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[hokie66]

Yes, I think #1 is clearly not inclusive. Not only the plate dowels shown in the pictures, but relatively common square dowels violate that definition.