Abstract: The experimental investigation on vibration characteristics of thin cylindrical shell with axial symmetry has been performed.The experimental modal analyses have been done under static condition and high-speed rotating condition for a given thin cylindrical shell by using shock vibration excitation method.The experimental results indicate that the vibration characteristics of the rotating thin cylindrical shell are different from those of rotating disk.For the former,due to the effect of Coriolis,there exist forward and backward travelling wave vibrations with different frequencies in view of rotating coordinate system and the frequency differences between two travelling waves are in a linear relationship with rotating speeds.The experimental results have a good agreement with the theoretical analysis,and it is very useful for the vibration design of a rotating cylindrical shell for turbine engine.