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Radius of a contact area between a sphere and an elastic half-space

Description

Contact mechanics is the study of the deformation of solids that touch each other at one or more points. When an elastic sphere indents an elastic half-space creates a contact area. The radius of this area is related to the radius of the sphere and the depth of the elastic half-space.

Related formulas

Variables

aRadius of the contact area (m)
RRadius of the sphere (m)
dDepth of the half-space (m)