Abstract:O ne of the key facto rs to affect the penet rat ion effect of in sert to rock is the crow n shape of the in sert. So it is necessary to develop a scien t if icm ethod to evaluate the differen t shapes of in sert s. A im ing at the disadvan tage of ex ist ing research on in sert, a set of m ethods and gu idelines to evaluate the penet rat ion effect of differen t in sert s to differen t rock s are pu t fo rw ard by judging crater vo lum e per un it penet rat ing energy in in sert2inden t ing test. Som e p rob lem s related to in sert evaluat ion and op t im izat ion are also studied in to.