The transfer matrix method was developed in the twentieth century to solve elastomechanical problems prior to the appearance of powerful computing facilities. The matrix notation supports modeling and analyzing mechanical systems with elastic elements, taking care of the various boundary conditions and initial conditions within the system and with respect to its environment. For the vibration analysis, a real and/or complex eigenvalue problem has to be solved as to what is computationally efficient because the elastic elements represent to some extent the system's configuration.

Multibody system dynamics has become a powerful tool in many engineering problems, such as, aviation, spacecraft, vehicles, robots, precision machinery, and biomechanics. A new method of multibody dynamics, namely, transfer matrix method of multibody systems, is presented by the authors. The method has four good characteristics: no necessity for the global dynamics equation of system, high programming, low order of matrix involved, and high efficiency. The new method is efficient for linear multi‐rigid‐flexible‐body systems, nonlinear systems, time‐variable systems, controlled multibody systems, and multi‐dimensional systems. The method has been paid great attention, because many engineering problems of important mechanical systems were solved effectively using this method. And it is valuable to popularize the method.

The book entitled “Transfer Matrix Method of Multibody System and its Applications” authored by Professor Xiaoting Rui, Dr. Yun Laifeng, Professor Lu Yuqi, Dr. He Bin, and Dr. Wang Guoping contains a consistent view on the classical transfer matrix method, its extension to multibody systems with general topology, and applications to some important engineering problems. The book is organized in 3 parts with 14 chapters.

The first part is devoted to the transfer matrix method for linear mechanical systems. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the topic and shows the relation between the transfer matrix method and the finite element method as well as the method of multibody systems. Chapter 2 applies the fundamentals of the transfer matrix method to linear elastic systems while in Chapter 3 the derivation and evaluation of transfer matrices is highlighted. Chapter 4 presents the vibration characteristics of linear mechanical systems resulting in real eigenvalue problems. In Chapter 5 rigid bodies are added to linear mechanical systems changing the eigenvalue problem to a complex one, the orthogonality of which is shown. Chapter 6 discusses the influence of damping and steady‐state responses. Chapter 7 considers nonlinear mechanical systems introducing incremental transfer matrices.

The second part deals with nonlinear multibody systems and the related discrete time transfer matrices. Chapter 8 presents rigid multibody systems and the corresponding algorithms. Rigid‐flexible multibody systems are treated in Chapter 9, especially considering Euler–Bernoulli beams as flexible bodies. Chapter 10 shows an extension to controlled dynamical systems based on flexible bodies undergoing large displacements. Chapter 11 summarizes the transfer matrices for elements widely used in multibody dynamics.

The third part shows the application of the methods presented. Chapter 12 deals with the launch dynamics of multiple launch rocket systems. The excellent simulation results lead to a strong improvement of the firing precision and they reduce the costs of development and testing of rocket systems. Chapter 13 presents an application to self‐propelled artillery systems and in Chapter 14 the launch dynamics of shipboard gun systems is investigated.

The leading author of this book, Professor Xiaoting Rui, visits the University of Stuttgart in Germany regularly. Thus, the many contributions of Professor Xiaoting Rui have been discussed thoroughly. It is most laudable that Professor Rui took the task of reviewing consistently his contributions published in many leading international journals, and put them together in one book in close cooperation with his four coauthors. I have no doubt that this book will be useful for students, scientists, and engineers who like to learn about an efficient method for the dynamical analysis of mechanical systems.

I wish the reader good success in his studies and a lot of benefit from this unique book on the latest developments of the transfer matrix method.