This work consideres the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of axially compressed layered composite panels including initial failure analysis. For determination stresses in layered composite panels Finite Element Method (FEM) used. A series of experiments were conducted to verify the FEA-results, but also to address the stability and strength of the composite structure. Combining a geometric nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) based on the von Karman theory and High Order Shear Deformation Theory (HOST) are used to study the first-ply failure behavior as well as the postbuckling behavior of laminated type composite panels. For this purpose and for the investigation of the failure responses improved 4-node layered shell finite elements are used. The finite element formulation is based on the third order shear deformation theory with four-node shell finite elements having eight degres of freedom per node. A simple method is proposed to predict buckling loads and the post-buckling behaviour together with initial failure analysis of layered composite panels. The experiments carried out on SCHRENK system. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results show quite a good agreement.