Indentation of an elastic disk on a circular supporting ring

Abstract

Thin elastic two-dimensionnal systems under compressive stresses may relieve part of their stretching energy by developing out of plane undulations. We investigate experimentally and theoretically the indentation of an elastic disk supported by a circular ring and show that compressive stresses are relieved via two different routes : either developing \textit{buckles} which are spread over the system or developing a \textit{d-cone} where deformation is concentrated in a subregion of the system. We characterize the indentation threshold for wrinkles or d-cone existence as a function of aspect ratio.