Complex dynamics of circular cylindrical shells subjected to inertial axial loads are investigated. The shell is vertically mounted on a shaker, i.e. its base is clamped to the shaker fixture, which induces a vertical motion along the shell axis. On the top of the shell a rigid disk is mounted, the vertical motion induced by the shaker induces huge inertial forces due to the rigid body motion. A complicating effect is due to the base actuator, which is an electro-dynamic shaking table; the interaction between the shell and shaker dynamics changes dramatically the system behaviour. The non-linear Sanders–Koiter theory is considered for the structural dynamics: the resulting set of non-linear partial differential equations is coupled with the linear ordinary differential equations that govern the shaker dynamics. A deep analysis of the non-stationary response of the shell is carried out in order to clarify the transition from stationary to non-stationary response. The model is validated by means of experimental results.