This research proposes a novel analytical model capable of accurately predicting the strain-dependent characteristics of fiber reinforced composite shells (FRCSs) with partial constrained layer damping (CLD) treatment by considering the nonlinearities of fiber reinforced composite and viscoelastic materials simultaneously. The nonlinear material properties are represented based on Jones-Nelson nonlinear theory, energy-based strain energy method, and complex modulus method. Then, the governing equations of motion for FRCSs are developed via Ritz method, and the identification procedure of nonlinear fitting parameters is also presented. By taking a T300 carbon fiber/epoxy resin cylindrical shell with partial CLD patches as an example, a series of experiments are carried out to validate the proposed modeling approach. Finally, the effects of material properties on nonlinear vibration behaviors of FRCSs covered with partial CLD patches are evaluated. Comparisons show that the proposed nonlinear model is more accuracy than that without considering strain dependence, where the maximum errors between the proposed model and measured data for natural frequencies, damping ratios and resonant response are 6.9%, 11.3%, and 11.2%, respectively.