Theoretical analysis of active control of vibration in a cylindrical shell is presented in this paper. The forced vibration wave in a circular cylindrical shell is studied and the propagation of the vibration wave is controlled actively. The structural model considered is an infinite elastic circular cylindrical shell and excited harmonically by a primary force arranged in a line around its circumference. Active control is achieved by applying another line circumferential distributed force apart from the primary force. The input vibration power flow is theoretically studied and used to evaluate the performance of the active control method. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a vibration reduction of 1 5 dB for only one control force. To realize this active control force, smart actuators such as the piezoceramic material can be used. It is hoped that the investigation will shed some light on the control ofvibration propagation in such structures by using smart materials.