ABSTRACT
In the present paper the nonlinear dynamic stability of circular cylindrical shells subjected to dynamic axial loads is investigated. Both Donnell's nonlinear shallow shell and Sanders' theories have been applied in order to evaluate their accuracy. The effect of a contained fluid on the dynamic stability and the postcritical behaviour is analysed in detail. Chaotic dynamics of compressed shells are investigated by means of nonlinear time series techniques, extracting correlation dimension and Lyapunov exponents.