Pressure vessels fabricated by the filament winding process13; have been the most successful applications of fibre composite materials, The available code of practice like the ASME code for fibre glass reinforced plastic pressure vessels and tanks in reinforced plastics which lay down guidelines for design offer only empirical and semi-empirical methods based primarily on proven safety i n actual service rather than on analytical foundations or optimal considerations,are not adequate for the design of high performance pressure vessels especially using advanced composite material systems. Thus, there is a need to develop and use theoretical methods, by Such methods, obviously using which accurate stress analysis and reliable strength prediction of filament wound fibre reinforced plastic pressure vessels can be carried out. Furthermore, there is also a need for the evaluation of these stress analysis methods by systematic correlation studies with experimental data. In this program,13; attention was therefore focus8ed on the design methods, fabrication procedures and structural testing of filament wound fibre reinforced plastic pressure vessels
