Fracture evolution during indentation of a brittle elastic solid

This paper examines the problem of crack extension during the indentation of a brittle elastic half-space by a cylindrical punch with a smooth #at contact surface. The paper develops a procedure for locating the point of nucleation of the crack within the brittle elastic solid and employs a boundary element technique to locate the progress of crack evolution as the force on the punch is increased. The numerical results illustrate the in#uence of the extent of crack development on the load}displacement relationship for the indentor. Copyright ( 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.