The dynamic buckling of a finite damped imperfect circular cylindrical shell which is subjected to step-loading in the form of lateral or hydrostatic pressure is examined by means of a perturbation method. The imperfection is assumed to be small. An asymptotic expression for the dynamic buckling load is obtained in terms of the damping coefficient and the Fourier component of the imperfection in the shape of the classical buckling mode. A simple relation which is independent of the imperfection is then obtained between the static and dynamic buckling loads.
