Dynamic behavior of water-filled spherical shell compressed onto a solid wall

Mechanical behavior of thin-walled spherical shells is of great importance for their application. In this study, the quasi-static and dynamic behaviors of water-filled spherical shells compressed onto a solid wall are explored experimentally and numerically. In particular, the simultaneous measurement of impact force and in-situ observation of deformation at the impact end was realized. And ping-pong balls are selected as the typical spherical shell specimens due to their good uniformity thickness and easy to be obtained. Further, experimentally validated computational model for water-filled spherical shell impacted onto a solid wall was established to investigate the water pressure distribution and deformation mechanism during the whole impact process. Results indicate that water significantly affects the deformation mechanism of the shell, and the impact force loses the semi-sinusoidal characteristic when the local flattening mode of shell occurs. Moreover, the anti-impacted ability of a shell will be significantly improved due to the pressure variation caused by the internal water.