This paper introduces a structural damage identification method to identify 4he multiple directional damages generated within a cylindrical shell by using the measured frequency response function (FRF). The equations of motion for a damaged cylindrical shell are derived. by using a theory of continuum damage mechanics in which a small material volume containing a directional damage is represented by the effective orthotropic elastic stiffness. In contrast with most existing vibration-based structural damage identification methods which require the modal Parameters measured in both intact and damaged states, the present method requires only the FRF-data measured at damaged state. Numerically simulated damage identification tests are conducted to verify the feasibility of the Proposed structural damage identification method.