Rebound indentation problem for a viscoelastic half-space and axisymmetric indenter - Solution by the method of dimensionality reduction

Abstract: The method of dimensionality reduction (MDR) is extended for the axisymmetric frictionless unilateral Hertz-type contact problem for a viscoelastic half-space and an arbitrary axisymmetric rigid indenter under the assumption that an arbitrarily evolving in time circular contact area remains singly connected during the whole process of indentation. In particular, the MDR is applied to study in detail the so-called rebound indentation problem, where the contact radius has a single maximum. It is shown that the obtained closed-form analytical solution for the rebound indentation displacement (recorded in the recovery phase, when the contact force vanishes) does not depend on the indenter shape.