In this paper, parameters necessary to implement the Strip Yield Zone Model (Dugdale, D.S., J. Mech. Phys. Solids 1960 8, 100-4)a in the analysis of pressurized cylindrical shells are evaluated using a strain-based finite element. The shell finite element employed is a strain-based bidimensional cylindrical circular element with four nodes and five degrees of freedom for each node. Two types of crack orientation are considered: axial and circumferential, and results are presented relating the ratios of remote stress/yield stress and the opening displacements to the ratios of yield zone length/crack length. © 1993.1713947Dugdale, Yielding of steel sheets containing slits (1960) J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 8, pp. 100-104Folias, An axial crack in a pressurized cylindrical shell (1965) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 1 (2), pp. 104-113Folias, On the effect of initial curvature on cracked flat sheets (1969) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 5 (4), pp. 327-346Copley, Sanders, Jr., A longitudinal crack in a cylindrical shell under internal pressure (1969) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 5 (2), pp. 117-131Erdogan, Kibler, Cylindrical and spherical shells with cracks (1969) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 5 (3), pp. 229-237Duncan-Fama, Sanders, Jr., A circumferential crack in a cylindrical shell under tension (1972) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 8 (1), pp. 15-20Erdogan, Ratwani, Plasticity and the crack opening displacement in shells (1972) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 8 (4), pp. 413-426Murthy, Rao, Rao, Stress around an axial crack in a pressurized cylindrical shell (1972) Int. J. Fracture Mech., 8 (3), pp. 287-297Lin, Abel, An energy integral formulation suitable for numerical propagation of through-cracks in general shells (1987) Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Numerical Methods in Fracture Mechanics, , A.R. Luxmoore, D.R.J. Owen, Y.P.S. Rajapakse, Pineridge Press, Austin, Texas, USAAndo, Yagawa, Okabayashi, The application of the finite element method to the analysis of fracture of cylindrical shells (1973) Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on Struct. Mech. in Reactor Technology, , Paper G5/4Herrmann, Campbell, A finite element analysis for thin shells (1968) AIAA Journal, 6, pp. 1842-1847Barsoum, Loomis, Stewart, Analysis of through cracks in cylindrical shells by the quarter-point elements (1979) Int. J. Fracture, 15 (3), pp. 259-280Chao, Chen, Stress intensity factors for complete internal and external cracks in spherical shells (1989) Int. J. Pressure Vessels & Piping, 40, pp. 315-326(1987) ABAQUS, , Hibbitt, Karlsson and Sorensen, Inc, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, version 4.6Assan, Aliabadi, Evaluation of stress intensity factors for cracked cylindrical shells by a strain-based finite element (1992) paper presented at XIII Congresso Ibero-Latino Americano de Métodos Computacionais para Engenharia, , Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, BrasilBarenblatt, The mathematical theory of equilibrium crack in the brittle fracture (1962) Adv. in Appl. Mech., 7, pp. 55-125Hillerborg, Modéer, Petersson, Analysis of crack formation and crack growth in concrete by means of fracture mechanics and finite elements (1976) Cement and Concrete Research, 6, pp. 773-782Ashwell, Sabir, A new cylindrical shell finite element based on simple independent strain functions (1972) Int. J. Mechanical Sci., 14, pp. 171-183Charchafchi, Curved rectangular and general quadrilateral shell elements for cylindrical shells (1982) Mathematics of Finite Elements and Applications IV, pp. 231-239. , Academic PressAssan, Reservatórios com Parede Ondulada- um Enfoque pelo Método dos Elementos Finitos (1984) Doctoral Dissertation, , EESC-USP, São Carlos, S.P., Brasil, (in Portuguese)Broek, (1987) Elementary Engineering Fracture Mechanics, , Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands