Abstract: As a key factor in winding process, reasonable design of winding tension directly affects the performance of productions. An algorithm to design winding tension is proposed for the design of winding tension. Considering the deformations of mandrel, radial and circumferential stresses of winding layers under external pressure are obtained through analyzing on the basis of anisotropic composite elastic theory and isotropic thick-walled cylinder elastic theory. Within the scope of the elastic limit and based on the stress superposition principle, the analytic algorithm between residual tension distribution and winding tension is established. By analyzing three typical tension models of filament winding, residual tension formulas are given. Furthermore, according to these formulas, different analytical formulas of winding tension are estibilished through analyzing the uniform residual tension. The influence of inner to outer radius ratio of mandrel and taper coefficient on isotropic material residual tension distribution is investigated. The results indicate that changes of radius ration and taper coefficient have remarkable effects on residual tension distribution, while the algorithm to calculate the residual tension distribution is simple, reasonable and reliable. By analyzing uniform residual tension of the anisotropic composite, the result is found consistent with the existing netting theory, and the winding tensions of up and down layers change gently and are easy to be implemented.