Aspects of Experimental Errors and Data Reduction Schemes From Spherical Indentation of Isotropic Materials

Sensitivity to experimental errors determines the reliability and usefulness of any experimental investigation. Thus, it is important to understand how various test techniques are affected by expected experimental errors. Here, a semi-analytical method based on the concept of condition number is explored for systematic investigation of the sensitivity of spherical indentation to experimental errors. The method is employed to investigate the reliability of various possible spherical indentation protocols, providing a ranking of the selected data reduction protocols from least to most sensitive to experimental errors. Explicit Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis is employed to provide further insight of selected protocol, supporting the ranking. The results suggest that the proposed method for estimating the sensitivity to experimental errors is a useful tool. Moreover, in the case of spherical indentation, the experimental errors must be very small to give reliable material properties.