In this paper, a stress analysis of thick laminated conical tubes is c
onducted on the basis of a thick-shell theory. The loading applied to
the tubes is quite general. It can be surface loads, boundary loads, a
xisymmetric loads or non-axisymmetric loads. The effect of transverse
shear is taken into account by a first-order theory. Governing equatio
ns involve ten unknowns: five displacements and five stress resultants
. They are solved by a semi-analytical method that is a combination of
Fourier series expansion, finite difference scheme and Riccati transf
er matrix method. The present theory can also be applied to the analys
is of any axisymmetric laminated tube or shell that may approximately
be divided into a series of conical shell segments. Since the laminati
on properties used in the finite difference scheme are defined locally
, the present theory allows the axisymmetric tube or shell to be of va
riable thickness and lay-up. The validity of present analysis is confi
rmed by experimental results.