An analytical expression for the stress field around an elastoplastic indentation/contact Original Research Article

The stress distribution outside the contact-induced plastic zone can be estimated by the superposition of a Hertzian field and the field for an embedded center of dilatation (ECD) in a half-space, while the residual stress distribution can be estimated by the ECD field alone. This model has a simple closed-form analytical expression, matching with finite element results nearly perfectly.