A general efficient approach to dynamic analysis of interconnected mechanical systems using the theory of connections KESHENG WANGt and 0YVIND BJ0RKEtThis paper presents a new formulation for equations of motion of interconnected mechanical systems. This formulation is based on the Theory of Connections, or Manufacturing Systems Theory, developed by Bjerke, which has been used to solve a great number of practical problems in engineering and economics by employing the same procedure and its small items of software. This paper shows that, given the equations of motion for the individual elements in a mechanical system (primitive systems), and the interconnection equations, i.e. the transformation objects (interconnection system), then the equations of motion for the interconnected mechanical system can be generated by simple straightforward procedure. Three transformation objects: the displacement-object DA, the velocity-object VA, and the acceleration-object AA, which relate the generalized coordinates to cartesian coordinates, have played a very important role in developing the equations of motion. By focusing attention on the behaviour of individual elements and the connections between these elements, the analyst is given a general and efficient approach. A simple example is used to demonstrate the generality and efficiency of this approach for formulating and solving equations of motion in detail.