The general theories of thin elastic cylindrical shells as derived
by Love and Novozhilov are compared and then used in a simple binary
flutter analysis which permits the existence of both axial and circumferential
waves of deformation. Linear piston theory has been used
and the results obtained indicate that the axi-symmetric mode of
deformation is the most critical. Comparisons are then made with
other published results and apparent inconsistencies in those papers
are found to arise from certain assumptions made in the deformation
equations used. In a further axisymmetric mode analysis the use of a
travelling wave form of radial deflection is shown to give similar results
as standing wave forms when applied to a shell of finite length
