The propagation of plastic zones in a thin-walled sandwich-type cylinder has been analysed theoretically. Boundary conditions are clamped-clamped at both ends, i.e. no rotation is permitted. The material was assumed to behave isotropically and to obey the yieid criterion of Huber-Hencky-von Mises. Deformation was computed on the assumption that the vector of rate of strain was normal to the plastic-interaction curve. The predicted result was verified experimentally. Four specimens were built by lamination of a hexcell core between two concentric cylinders. In the two mild-steel specimens, the initial stage of plastic flow conformed well with the prediction. This proved that plastic flow is not initiated at the mid-position between the end constraints. In two aluminium specimens, this phenomenon of incipient plastic flow could not be observed owing to the absence of a pronounced yield point. The overall agreement was, however, satisfactory.