Theory of multilayered anisotropic plates with weakened interfaces

Rigorous kinematical analysis offers a general representation of displacement variation through thickness of multilayered plates, which allows discontinuous distribution of displacements across each interface of adjacent layers so as to provide the possibility of incorporating effects of interfacial imperfection. A spring-layer model, which has recently been used efficiently in the field of micromechanics of composites, is introduced to model imperfectly bonded interfaces of multilayered plates. A linear theory underlying dynamic response of multilayered anisotropic plates with nonuniformly weakened bonding is presented from Hamilton's principle. This theory has the same advantages as conventional higher-order theories over classical and first-order theories. Moreover, the conditions of imposing traction continuity and displacement jump across each interface are used in modeling interphase properties. In the special case of vanishing interface parameters, this theory reduces to the recently well-developed zigzag theory. As an example, a closed-form solution is presented and some numerical results are plotted to illustrate effects of the interfacial weakness.