Abstract: Contact problems of multilayer plates with interspaces are studied.The plate system is divided into four subregions: possible contact region Ω_c,plate regions with no surface adjacent to Ω_c,plate region with,only one surface adjacent to Ω_c and plate region with both surfaces adjacent to region Ω_c.By degenerating the element energy functional of each subregion,a new method using plate-plate contact elements is developed that is suitable to analyze contact problems of multilayer plates.A plate-plate contact element is constructed.The stability and the convergence of the element are found to be satisfactory.Examples of Mindlin-Reissner plates contacting with rigid foundation are studied.