Author(s)

A.P.S. Selvadurai

Abstract

This paper examines the problem of the alteration in the compressional stiffness of a rigid circular indentor which results from the extension of cracking into the indenting region. The paper applies a boundary element scheme to develop numerical results for the stiffness reduction resulting from conoidal crack growth, which commences at the boundary of the indentor. The problem is of interest to both geomechanics and nano-indentor technology. 1 Introduction The classical problem of the indentation of the surface of an isotropic elastic halfspace region by a smooth rigid circular flat indentor was first obtained by Boussinesq [1] using the mathematical similarity between results of potential theory and analogous formulation of boundary value problems in elasto

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