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In the present study, the large-amplitude vibrations and stability of a perfect circular cylindrical shell subjected to axial harmonic excitation in the neighborhood of the lowest natural frequencies are investigated. Donnell's shallow shell theory is used and the shell spatial discretization is obtained by the Ritz method. An efficient low-dimensional model presented in previous publications is used to discretize the continuous system. The main purpose of this work is to discuss the use of basins of attraction as a measure of the reliability and safety of the structure. First, the nonlinear behavior of the conservative system is discussed and the basin structure and volume is understood from the topologic structure of the total energy and its evolution as a function of the system parameters. Then, the behavior of the forced oscillations of the harmonically excited shell is analyzed. First the stability boundaries in force control …