A technique is proposed to determine the natural frequencies of rib-reinforced cylindrical shells with low shear stiffness. The equations of motion based on the Timoshenko model are used. The influence of the transverse shear moduli of the shell and ribs on the minimum natural frequencies and corresponding modes is studied by way of numerical examples. It is shown that the effect of the discrete ribs is different from that predicted by the classical theory of ribbed shells Keywords: cylindrical shell, grid of ribs, natural frequency, Timoshenko model, transverse shear 1. Introduction. The paper sets out to study the influence of discrete ribs and transverse-shear strains on the natural frequencies and vibration modes of rib-reinforced orthotropic cylindrical shells with low shear stiffness.To describe the deformation of such shells, we will use the equations of motion from the refined theory of shells and rods. The equations are based on the Timoshenko models and account for transverse-shear strains [5,7]. The natural vibrations of ribbed shells made of traditional materials were earlier studied using the equations of motion from the classical theory of ribbed shells [2][3][4]8].The influence of transverse-shear strains on the natural frequencies was examined only for shells reinforced with ribs of one type (stringers or rings) in [6,9,10], where simplified exact solutions of the equations of motion were used. We are unaware of other solutions of this problem. The method used below allows us to cancel some of the assumptions adopted in the above-cited studies.The method to be used to solve the equations of motion is similar to that proposed in [11], where the natural vibrations and stability of a shallow ribbed rectangular shell were analyzed using the classical theory of ribbed shells.The results discussed below are one of the necessary stages in solving a more complicated problem on harmonic waves in a ribbed shell with low shear stiffness. A similar problem was solved in [12][13][14][15] using the classical theory of ribbed shells.2. Original Relations. Consider a closed orthotropic symmetric laminated circular cylindrical shell reinforced with longitudinal and ring ribs. The equations of motion of such a shell are based on the Timoshenko model describing the deformation of the shell and ribs (one-dimensional elastic elements) [5]. Assuming that the grid of ribs is regular (the geometrical and mechanical characteristics of the ribs of one type are equal, the ribs are equally spaced, and the distance between the ring nearest to the shell end and this end is equal to the distance between rings) and introducing dimensionless coordinates and dimensionless geometrical and mechanical characteristics, we write the equations of motion [5]