## 4 Conclusions  
This paper presents the elastic layered Boussinesq theory and finite element simulation in order to study the stress field and displacement field distribution law of aircraft wheel loads, which act on the central slab, the edge of adjacent slabs, and the junctions of the adjacent slabs of precast concrete airport pavement. Then, the effect of adding a dowel bar to reduce the burden of the load on the pavement slab, and the load transfer of the adjacent slab, were compared and investigated. Finally, the laboratory test data were compared with the simulation calculation results. The following conclusions can be drawn:  
1. The vertical displacement of the slab at the slab's edge, and the connection between neighboring slabs, was relatively significant, with the greatest vertical displacement measuring at 1.92 mm and 1.71 mm, respectively. The coefficient of the transverse displacement attenuation of the wheel load operating on the center of the slab and the edge of neighboring slabs was comparable. A high deflection deformation on the transverse direction of the pavement slab was present, together with a small attenuation coefficient and a complex stress condition at the junction point. 2. The effect of the dowel bar on the load-bearing pavement slab was minimal, regardless of the slab's different positions. The deflection load transfer coefficient of the loaded slab, relative to the unloaded slab, was 56.03% when the wheel load was acting on the center of the slab. The deflection load transfer coefficient that was measured when the wheel load was acting at the slab's edge, was 27.08%. The conclusion that the dowel bar's load transfer efficiency was lower when the aircraft wheel load was closer to another unloaded slab is based on the fact that when the wheel load acted on the joint of adjacent pavement slabs, the dowel bar rarely modified the load transfer of the pavement; however, it did affect the force at the joint point. 3. The edges of nearby slabs underwent the most vertical stress after the dowel bar was introduced, followed by center of the slab, and finally, the slab's joints. The three vertical stresses were 0.295 MPa, 0.289 MPa, and 0.178 MPa. The junctions experienced the highest bending stress, which was then followed by the slab's edges, and finally, the center of the slab. The bending stresses were 0.072 MPa, 0.025 MPa, and 0.016 MPa, respectively. 4. After comparing the laboratory test data with the simulation calculation, the results were found to be similar. The joint between the edge of the precast pavement slab and the neighboring pavement slab was the most unfavorable position of the precast pavement slab under the aircraft's wheel load. This finding may help to understand the illness and damage mechanisms of existing pavement slab edges and joints. The warping distortion of the pavement slab along its edges and its surroundings, caused by the wheel load, would have a significant impact on the smoothness of the airport's cement concrete pavement; therefore, in the future, it will be necessary to use theoretical numerical simulations and field tests to further verify the warping deformation of the slab, and to investigate the deformation of the slab caused by the effect of the temperature, the wheel load, and the stress characteristics along the direction of the slab's thickness. C.L. : Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing--original draft, Writing--review and editing. X.C. : Conceptualization, Supervision, L.W. : Funding acquisition, Resources. J.Z. and Z.C. : Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis. F.L. and P.B. : Writing--Review and Editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was funded by Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province grant number [2022]Q-398] and Xi'an Young Talent Lifting Program grant number [095920221380].