Abstract: In recent years, flexible mechanical systems have attracted widespread attention in aerospace, subsea exploration, robotics, machinery manufacturing and other fields due to their advantages of lightweight, low energy consumption, and flexible operation. The modeling and control problems have also become a hot research topic by scholars at home and abroad. In this paper, some application backgrounds of flexible mechanical systems are introduced firstly, then common distributed parameter modeling methods, control strategies, control methods and practical engineering problems are presented. Finally, distributed parameter modeling and control problems of flexible mechanical systems are summarized, and future research directions are prospected.