The thermal snapping and vibration analysis of cylindrical laminated panel subject to thermal load and pressure is performed using layerwise finite elements. To consider large deflections due to thermomechanical loads, von-Karman nonlinear displacement-strain relationships based on the layerwise theory are applied. Cylindrical are-length method is used to take into account the snapping phenomena. Thermal snapping and vibration characteristics versus various parameters such as thickness ratio, shallowness, boundary conditions and loading type are investigated. The present results show that thermal snapping changes vibration characteristics as well as static deformations. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.