The Indentation Method as a Method of Assessment of Loading and Degradation of Mechanical Characteristics of the Material

On the basis of the calculation of a series of model problems on pressing a hard spherical indenter into a half-space from a reinforcing material we show the possibility of using the indentation for the simultaneous determination of effective stresses, as well as the yield strength of the material. The methodology leans upon an approach based on finding unknown parameters from the condition of minimization of discrepancies in the data of registration experimental registration of displacement fields by electronic speckle pattern interferometry, which result from indentation, and their corresponding calculated displacement fields found on the basis of a numerical solution of a series of boundary value problems of deformed solid-body mechanics.