Indentation of concave power law profiles with arbitrary exponents

Abstract: We study analytically and numerically the process of indentation of cylindrical rigid indenter with concave face in form of a power-law function. In the well-known case of a parabolic concave indenter, the contact starts at sharp edges of the indenter and spreads inwards with increasing indentation depth. For all profiles with the exponent larger than 2, the contact area first spreads from the boarder inwards, but then a contact is established in the center of the indenter. Finally, the outer ring spreads inwards and the central contact area outwards until the complete contact is achieved. The critical indentation depth for the full contact is calculated ones proceeding from the full contact and looking for the condition of vanishing pressure and also proceeding from incomplete contact (in this case numerically, using Boundary Element Method). The results of both approaches coincide.