As a new type of fastener, ring-groove rivets have been widely used in aerospace, rail transit, bridge engineering, building structures, and other related fields because of their excellent performance. In the field of power towers, the main connections mainly use bolt connections, and the load-bearing mode is mainly shear connection. As a new connection technology, ring-groove rivets are not currently used in the field of power towers. In order to ensure that the shear performance of the main joint meets the requirements, this study conducted shear static tests and joint shear tests on Grade 8.8 ring-groove rivets and ordinary bolts of the same specification, comparing both their single-rivet performance and their shear performance in joint connections. The results showed that the single-rivet performance of the ring-groove rivets was superior to that of the ordinary bolts. Under the premise that the plate strength, hole spacing, and edge distance met the requirements, the bearing capacity of the connectors was determined by the shear strength of the ring-groove rivets, and the failure mode was rivet shear. The friction force between the plates was negligible and the connection form was a pressure-bearing connection. The shear performance of the ring-groove rivets was better than that of the ordinary bolts of the same specification, and the slip generated during the failure process was the same. In terms of shear capacity, ring-groove rivets can replace bolts for connections in transmission towers.
Wang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.