JKR adhesive contact for a transversely isotropic layer of finite thickness

A frictionless contact interaction with a circular area of contact between an arbitrary axisymmetric rigid probe and a transversely isotopic elastic layer deposited on a substrate is studied in the framework of the JKR (Johnson, Kendall, and Roberts) adhesion theory. Under the assumption that the diameter of the contact area is less than the thickness of the elastic layer, the forth-order asymptotic model is explicitly written out. The effect of the layer thickness and the material anisotropy is taken into account via the asymptotic coefficients, which are integral characteristics of the elastic layer and also depend on the boundary conditions at the layer/substrate interface. A special case of an isotropic elastic layer bonded to an isotropic elastic half-space is considered in detail.