Greg,
Good question. I was trying to speak from the most general perspective. I define a dowel pin as an interference fit cylinder that is used to transfer shear forces. Most bolted joints do not contain these, but those that do use the dowel to resist shear forces and screws (if any) to resist tension forces. Bolted joints usually have three varieties: tension, shear-bearing, and shear-friction. Most joints are shear-friction - screws are used with oversized holes and shear force resistance is provided by the friction force developed by the fastener preload. Shear-bearing has the fastener in a close fit hole so that the fastener takes shear forces by the hole edge bearing against the screw shank. Lastly, tension joints have screws in oversized holes with essentially no shear forces, so the only forces are tension/compression.
Perhaps others refer to locating pins as dowels. These pins are loose fit and provide no force resistance. Then, the joint is one of the three above, usually shear-friction.
Regards,
Cory
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