Abstract
Chains are machine components in cars, in geared systems and armored vehicles. The dynamics of chains typically are characterized by free motion and contact processes, which may include impacts and friction. Therefore, modeling by multi-body theory augmented by methods of contact mechanics represents an appropriate way to evaluate dynamic chain behavior. During its motion, due to the phenomena already mentioned appear parametric excitations, which induce a specific non-linear dynamic behavior. This paper gives some mathematical instruments to evaluate the non-linear chain dynamic behavior taking into account impacts, friction and parametric excitations.