Investigation of changes in the spherical shell shape under the action of pulsed loading due to contact interaction with a rigid block

An axisymmetric problem of high strains in a spherical lead shell enclosed into an aluminum “spacesuit” under the action of pulsed loading is considered. The shell straining is described with the use of equations of mechanics of elastoviscoplastic media in Lagrangian variables, and the kinematic relations are determined in the current state metrics. Equations of state are taken in the form of equations of the flow theory with isotropic hardening. The problem is solved numerically by using the variational difference method and the “cross” explicit scheme of integration with respect to time. The influence of the yield stress as a function of the strain rate on changes in the shell shape is studied for different values of loading. The calculated final shape and residual strains are demonstrated to be in good agreement with experimental data.