Experimental research and numerical simulation of soccer shape shell dieless hydro-bulging

The dieless hydro-bulging process of soccer shape shell with "corner-cutting treatment" was described.The strains on the surface of soccer shape shell were measured versus the pressure increasing and the thickness distribution was given.The nonlinear commercial simulation software ADINA was used to simulate the forming process.Results of experiment and numerical simulation have a good agreement.Meanwhile,the results show that the deformation of hexagonal blank,constituting the soccer shape shell with pentagonal blank,is larger and earlier than that of pentagonal blank.And also,the effect of soccer shape shell structure design on the final shape quality of formed sphere was discussed.