A circular tube undergoes bucking behavior when it is subjected to axial loading. An upper bound analysis can be an attractive approach to predict the buckling load and energy absorption efficiently. The upper bound analysis obtains the load or energy absorption by means of assumption of the kinematically admissible velocity fields. In order to obtain an accurate solution, kinematically admissible velocity fields should be defined by considering many factors such as geometrical parameters, dynamic effect, etc. In this study, experiments and finite element analyses are carried out for circular tubes with various dimensions and loading conditions. As a result, the kinematically admissible velocity field is newly proposed in order to consider various dimensions and the strain rate effect of material. The upper bound analysis with the suggested velocity field accurately estimates the mean load and energy absorption obtained from results of experiment and finite element analysis.