Contact problems for a finitely deformed incompressible elastic halfspace

Abstract

This paper examines the class of problems related to the interaction between a finitely deformed incompressible elastic halfspace and contacting elements that include smooth, flat rigid indenters with elliptical and circular shapes and a thick plate of infinite extent. The contact between the finitely deformed elastic halfspace and the contacting elements is assumed to be bilateral. The interaction between both the rigid circular indenter and the finitely deformed halfspace is induced by a Mindlin force that acts at the interior of the halfspace regions and by exterior loads. Similar considerations apply for the contact between the flexible plate of infinite extent and the finitely deformed elastic halfspace. The theory of small deformations superposed on large deformations proposed by Green et al. (Proc R Soc Ser A 211:128–155, 1952) is used as the basis for the formulation of the problem, and results of potential theory and integral transform techniques are used to develop the analytical results. In particular, explicit results are presented for the displacement of the rigid elliptical indenter and the maximum deflection of the flexible plate induced by the Mindlin forces, when the finitely deformed halfspace region has a strain energy function of the Mooney–Rivlin form.