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Nonlinear contact mechanics for the indentation of hyperelastic cylindrical bodies

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Abstract

The mechanical properties of biological materials are commonly found through the application of Hertzian theory to force-displacement data obtained through micro-indentation techniques. Due to their soft nature, biological specimens are often subjected to large indentations, resulting in a nonlinear deformation behavior that can no longer be accurately described by Hertzian contact. Useful models for studying the large deformation response of cylindrical specimens under indentation are not readily available, and the morphologies of biological materials are often closer to cylinders than spheres (e.g., cellular processes, fibrin, collagen fibrils, etc.). In this study, a computational model is used to analyze the large deformation indentation of an incompressible hyperelastic cylinder in order to provide a generalized formulation that can be used to extract mechanical properties from indentation into soft cylindrical bodies. The effects of specimen size and indentation depth are examined in order to quantify the deformation at which the proposed force-displacement relationship remains accurate.

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Funding

This work was funded by the DoD SMART Scholarship Program and the US Army Research Lab (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD), under Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF-12-2-0022.

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  1. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005-5066, USA

    Amy M. Dagro

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218-2682, USA

    K. T. Ramesh

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  1. Amy M. Dagro
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Correspondence to Amy M. Dagro.

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Dagro, A.M., Ramesh, K.T. Nonlinear contact mechanics for the indentation of hyperelastic cylindrical bodies. Mech Soft Mater 1, 7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42558-019-0006-0

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