Elastic SH wave propagation in a layered anisotropic plate with interface damage modelled by spring boundary conditions

Elastic SH wave propagation in a layered anisotropic plate withinterface damage is modelled in several steps. A single interfacecrack between two half-spaces is first studied and an explicitsolution for the crack-opening displacement is obtained at lowfrequencies. This is then generalised to a random distributionof cracks at the interface and the result is reformulated asa spring boundary condition. As an example of its usefulness,this boundary condition is then used in the derivation of aplate equation by expanding the displacements in power seriesin the thickness coordinate.