Because of limited available information on strength and ease of installation of specific fasteners for a particular application to a steel deck diaphragm, a preliminary testing program comparing the shear strength of commercially available screws and gas-actuated shot pins was conducted by J. R. Harris and Company at the University of Colorado Denver in 2018. A test was designed to explore the behavior and capacity of various fasteners, securing two and three pieces of sheet steel of various thicknesses together. Specimens were fabricated and load tested, with the sheet steel pieces in tension, so the fasteners were subject to shear. Four fasteners, in two rows of two, were used for all tests, with different end distances also being studied. Most of the tests were monotonic tension, and those results were used to develop a cyclic testing protocol for the best performing screw and shot pin.
Most limit states encountered were limited by tilting of the screw against the sheet steel in bearing, leading to a ductile failure. Fastener shear was encountered in a small percentage of cases. Results are compared to each other and to AISI calculated values
