Abstarct: The softening and ratcheting behavior of steel cylindrical shells under force-control and displacement-control of axial cyclic loadings were investigated numerically and experimentally. Experimental tests were performed using an INSTRON 8802 servo-hydraulic machine. The numerical analysis was carried out by ABAQUS software using the following advanced plasticity models baxsed on Von Mises criterion: isotropic hardening, linear kinematic hardening, and nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening and the results obtained from the experiments were compared with numerical results. The specimens were subjected to force-controlled cycling with non-zero mean stress which causes the accumulation of plastic strain or ratcheting behavior in continuous cycles. Cylindrical shell under symmetric axial displacement-controlled loading showed softening behavior and due to localization buckling which occurred in compressive stress-strain curve of the shell; the softening rate is higher. Another object of this investigation is to study the influence of cutout on the behavior of hysteresis curves of cylindrical shells under various types of loadings. The results showed that the rate of softening and ratcheting increases by creating the cutouts. The nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening model simulates the softening and ratcheting behavior of cylindrical shell accurately but the isotropic and linear kinematic hardening models cannot simulate the softening and ratcheting behavior of a cylindrical shell.