Experimental Study on Shear Behavior of Four Connections in Fabricated Cold-formed Steel Structures

To evaluate the feasibility of self-drilling screw, blind rivet, clinching, and self-piercing rivet(SPR) connections in fabricated cold-formed steel structures, an experimental study was conducted on shear behavior of four connections under different steel sheet thickness. Failure modes and load-deformation curves of four connections were summarized. The effects of thickness ratio on mechanical behavior and failure modes were observed. The feasibility of four connections in fabricated cold-formed steel structure was comprehensively evaluated by comparison analysis of mechanical behavior and construction feasibility. The results show that thickness ratio has small influence on failure mode of clinching but has great effect on self-drilling screw, blind rivet, and SPR. Both self-drilling screw and blind rivet have higher shear strength, deformability, and construction feasibility, but automatic level is lower, which can use on-site construction of cold-formed steel structures. Clinching should not apply in cold-formed steel structures because of lower strength, deformability, and construction flexibility. SPR has better mechanical property and high efficiency, which primarily applies to fabricated cold-formed steel structures. Based on aforementioned studies, a design method with high accuracy and small discreteness of SPR connections is proposed.