In order to effectively analyze the response of coating functionally graded cylindrical shell under sinusoidal pressure on the top surface,a high-fidelity simplified model was developed based on variational asymptotic method(VAM). The 3D energy equation of functionally graded shell was established based on the expanded Hamilton principle. The 3D energy equation was asymptotic expanded into a series of 2D approximate energy equation by using the inherent small parameters,and the approximate energy was converted to a form of Reissner-Mindlin model. The recovery relationships were provided to accurately predict the 3D field distribution along the thickness direction.The cylindrical bending example of a homogeneous substrate with a thin Sic-Al functionally graded coating under sinusoidal pressure on the top surface showed that the recovered 3D displacement and stress components agree well with 3D precise solutions. The present model is valid for large displacements and global rotations and can accurately capture the warping geometric nonlinearity when the strains are small.
