An integral account of design and analysis of grid-stiffened cylindrical structures is presented. For convenience, a two-phase approach is adopted. In the initial phase, with a view to arriving at a few initial possible optimal configurations, parametric analysis through smeared stiffeners approach is utilised. The ribs, in a filament wound grid-stiffened structure, introduce several additional design elements that result in many possible design configurations; in the initial phase, these design options are efficiently reduced to a few numbers. Finite element modelling is used in the final design and analysis. Rib material is distinct from normal unidirectional composites and this aspect is inherently accounted for in the modelling approaches considered here. © 2011, DESIDOC.