The paper highlights the results of numerical experimentation with a geometrically non-linear formulation of a thick axisymmetric shell element involving non-axisymmetric deformation. The formulation itself has earlier been presented in the context of a non-linear localΒ±global analysis of shells of revolution, where very little attention was paid to an independent evaluation of the element's performance. A Fourier decomposition of the loads and the displacements has been used in the circumferential co-ordinate, in order to describe the non-axisymmetric behavior. Due to the interaction between dierent harmonic terms in the non-linear analysis, the tangential stiness matrix is no longer block-diagonal. A pseudoload method and a conjugate gradient like iterative scheme have been used to overcome the problem of a large tangent stiness matrix, and thus most of the advantages of the semi-analytical method have been retained in the non-linear analysis. The accuracy of the predictions in the study has been benchmarked by analysing the same examples using the quadrilateral shear deformable shell element available in the commercial code NISA II. A comparison with other results available in the literature hints that the eect of transverse shear deformation should not be neglected in the geometrically non-linear analysis of shells which are traditionally considered thin.