Abstract: In order to obtain the bearing capacity of laminated tube with variable cross section, an approach based on energy method was presented. A calculation method based on 3D beam theory was adopted. The equivalent engineering elastic coefficients of the uniform cross-section part and the variable cross section part were obtained by this method. After considering the influence of shear deformation and the influence of the variable cross section on the deflection curve, the analytical formula of the overall stability bearing capacity of laminated tube was derived based on the energy method. The NASA laminated tube with variable cross section was taken as an example to conduct theoretical calculation and finite element numerical simulation. The modified and unmodified theoretical calculations were compared with finite element result. The result considering the above two factors is mostly close to the finite element result. The influence of shear deformation on the calculation of bearing capacity can be more than 10%, and the influence of deflection curve is about 1% thus can be neglected. The bearing capacity, volume and bearing efficiency of laminated tube were analyzed with two parameters of taper length and taper angle. It is found that the variation of cross section has much more influence on bending deformation energy than on shear deformation energy, and this section form can improve bearing efficiency of laminated tube. Besides, under certain taper length, there exists the optimal taper angle corresponding to the maximum bearing efficiency.