Applicability Investigation of Self-piercing Rivet Used in the Prefabricated Light Steel Structure

To solve the problems of many self-drilling screw connection procedures and low efficiency in traditional assembly structure, lock-riveting connection was introduced in this paper. To investigate the feasibility of the self-piercing rivet (SPR)used in the prefabricated light steel structure, single joint and truss beam specimens were manufactured by self-tapping screw and locking-riveting, respectively. The failure modes, bending capacity, stiffness and ductility of the two kinds of connection specimens were compared and analyzed based on the performance of truss beam with the self-tapping screw. Results show that the stress characteristics of lock rivet in truss beam and joint test are different. The conclusion of single joint test is not enough to explain the applicability of lock rivet joint in the whole structure. The failure mode of the truss beam with lock-riveted connection is ductile failure. The upper chord flange plate is cracked. The bending capacity, stiffness and ductility are better than those of the self-tapping screw connection, and the bending stiffness has obvious advantages. The lock riveting connection is suitable for modular cold formed thin-walled steel modularization with high stiffness requirements.