“…The recommended and commonly used approach for modeling PCCP has been the threedimensional since it allows a realistic representation of the geometry, discontinuities and embedded elements of the pavement, for instances, transverse joints, longitudinal joints, dowel slots and dowels [5]- [7]; studies have paid particular attention to the mechanical responses of transverse joints since the load-carrying capacity of CS near the edge is small, thus, fine meshing near the transverse joint has been necessary to accurately capture the responses, however, fine meshing is also used in the load application zones and required in the dowel due to its small size [8]- [10]; It should be mentioned that every study reviewed considered the frictional behavior between the different pavement layers using only COFs, although there are complex models to characterize the interface between materials [11], [12], studies indicate that the Coulomb-type friction model which receives a COF can be acceptable for modeling the friction between layers of materials [13], [14]; on the other hand, FE models have been subjected to uniformly distributed vertical tire-pavement contact pressures applied on rectangular, ellipsoidal or circular areas [8], [15], [16], however, field measurements and FE simulations indicate that the tire-pavement contact pressures are vertical and tangential with non-uniform distribution [17]- [19], although these pressures have been commonly applied in ACP models, improving the accuracy of pavement mechanical responses [14], [20], [21], their application should also be considered for PCCP models. The application of these pressures is usually performed on an almost realistic representation of the tire-pavement footprint that is composed of different rectangular shapes simulating the tire treads (pressures vary along the treads) [18], [19], [22]. Furthermore, although some studies introduce improvements in concrete properties using models such as concrete smeared cracking and concrete damaged plasticity to predict the inelastic and post-cracking behavior of concrete, their application may be limited due to laboratory tests (compression and uniaxial cyclic tension) to obtain the necessary parameters of the models [5], [23]- [25], in this sense, it would be advisable to apply these models in cases where the concrete strain exceeds the elastic range.…”