Abstract: Large-scale thin-walled cylindrical shells are widely used in chemical or electric power engineering. Within the shell, some beams are usually installed to support equipments. The rectangular cutouts in the shell wall are prepared to connect the beams by weld. Consequently, the shell wall is subjected to local axial compression from the beam and the circumferentially uniformly distributed overall axial compression resulting from the self-weight of the upper part and the roof. In consideration of circumferential weld initial geometrical imperfection, the nonlinear numerical analyses of 218 cylinders with the circumferential subtended angle of the cutout being less than 10° are conducted. The cylinders are firstly loaded under overall axial compression then under local compression. It is found that, the circumferential weld imperfections above the cutout influence the buckling bearing capacity of the cylinder subjected to local axial compression slightly, but significantly reduce the post-buckling bearing capacity. The location of the most unfavorable weld imperfection beneath the cutout is related to the magnitude of the overall load and the cutout size. As the magnitude of the overall compression increases, the buckling bearing capacity of the cylinder under local compression decreases. When the magnitude of overall load is low, the buckling bearing capacity of the cylinder under local compression decreases as the amplitude of the imperfection increases. When the magnitude of overall load is high, the buckling bearing capacity of the cylinder under local compression increases as the amplitude of the imperfection increases. Based on numerical computation results, the design recommendation of the cylinders subjected to the combined loading of overall and local axial compression is provided.