Abstract: With the displacement function expressed in singletrigonometric series, the circumferential bending problem of the cylindricalshell under arbitrary normal distributed load and simplysupported in the opposite edges, is solved. Approximately taking the distributed load as a linear load in the infinitesimal rectangleregion, the circumferential bending deformation formula of the cylindrical shellunder the linear load is deduced. The special formula isobtained when the linear load is uniformly-distributed and linearly varying.The results show that, under given boundary constraints, the displacementdistribution of the cylindrical shell circumferential bending deformationcalculated by the theoretical method is consistent with that calculatedby FEA.