Indentation of a thin incompressible layer with finite friction

If a thin layer of an incompressible elastic material is pressed between two plane surfaces, the effective stiffness is very sensitive to the presence of frictional slip. This effect is investigated using a low-order polynomial representation of the through-thickness displacement profile. Results show good agreement with finite element studies and also show that the stiffness is significantly affected by that part of the layer [if any] outside the loaded region. The same result is then used in convolution to approximate the load-displacement response for a convex indenter.