• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.751-758
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• 2012

We study thickness-shear (TSh) free vibrations of an unbounded, laminated elastic plate with three layers of different materials. One of the two interfaces is slightly weakened as described by the shear-lag model that allows the displacement to be discontinuous across the interface. A frequency equation is obtained from the linear theory of elasticity. A perturbation solution of the frequency equation is obtained from which the frequency shifts of TSh modes due to the weakened interface can be calculated. It is shown that the frequency shifts of TSh modes of different orders are different, and they satisfy different conditions when different interfaces are weakened. These conditions are obtained which can potentially be used as criteria for determining specifically which interface is weakened.