The current paper investigates the effect of cut-out design parameters on load-bearing capacity and buckling behaviour of steel cylindrical shell using a nonlinear finite element analysis in modelling cylinder buckling under longitudinal compressive load. The effect of four geometry design parameters: shell diameter to thickness ratio, cut-out location, orientation, and size were investigated in this study. To enhance the prediction of buckling behaviour, both geometrical and material nonlinearities were considered. An ANSYS APDL code was written and tested by verifying its validity through comparison with former buckling study. The results showed that changing the cut-out location from mid-height of the cylindrical shell towards a fixed edge caused an increase in the buckling load value. Moreover, the study showed that increasing parameters such as shell thickness and cut-out orientation have a positive influence in which the buckling load value increased too. For fast design purposes, an empirical numerical based regression formula was presented for the calculation of the critical buckling load of a cylindrical shell having an elliptical cut-out.
