The classical transfer matrix method was developed in the 1920s and used to study the linear system composed of elastic components, essentially applied to solve one‐dimensional problems. Great research projects of the Chinese government and national defense have been accomplished recently over 10 years. Many difficult problems have been solved successfully and important breakthroughs in technology have been acquired. Tens of prizes for science and technology from the Chinese government, ministries, and commissions have been gained by the authors of this book, Professor Xiaoting Rui and others. In the process of accomplishing these works, the theory has been developed systematically by the authors as follows. The transfer matrix method of multibody system was developed in 1993 and was used to study the eigenvalue problem of a complex multibody launch system first. In 1997, the concept of augmented eigenvector and augmented operator was presented, the orthogonality of augmented eigenvectors of multibody system coupled with rigid and flexible bodies was developed, and the dynamics response of complex multibody launch systems was exactly analyzed first using the mode method. The discrete time transfer matrix method of multi‐rigid‐body systems was developed in 1998 while that of multi‐rigid‐flexible‐body system was developed in 1999. It is utilized first to solve the dynamics problems of multi‐rigid‐body system and multi‐rigid‐flexible‐body system using transfer matrix method of multibody system, and to study the dynamics of complex multibody launch systems using discrete time transfer matrix method of multibody system.

This book is a summarization of the transfer matrix method of multibody systems developed by the authors, and strives to expatiate on the basic principle, algorithm, and application of the method systematically. In this book, the transfer matrix method of linear multibody systems is introduced in the first part (Chapters 2–7), discrete time transfer matrix method of multibody systems is introduced in the second part (Chapters 8–11), and the application of transfer matrix method of multibody system is introduced in the third part (Chapters 12–14). Some contents of this book had been published in academic journals, mainly in Chinese. I believe that the teachers, students, and researchers of science and technology in the fields of mechanical system dynamics, weapons, and other engineering technology will surely benefit from this book.

I think the most worthy study from the authors of this book is not only the academic contents but also their excellent feature in research, addressing the main fields of construction of the national economy and national defense, combining science research with national construction and national defense, and combining theory with practice.