Approximate Analysis of Penetration of a Cylindrical Roller Into a Thin Elastic Coating

Abstract

An approximate analytical solution to the problem of two-dimensional indentation of a frictionless cylinder into a thin elastic coating bonded to a rigid substrate has been obtained using the approach introduced by Matthewson for axisymmetric indentation. We show by comparing the results of the approximate solution to the exact solutions and to finite element calculations that the approximate solution is accurate for a/h> 2. The advantage of this approach is that the results are expressed in closed form and the accuracy of the approximate solution improves with increasing values of a/h. For a/h>2, for a given load, the theory overestimates the value of a/h compared to the exact solution by less than 10 percent. In many experimental studies and in preliminary design, it is convenient to have closed-form solutions exhibiting the dependence of the parameters.