In order to design the damage configuration of a cylindrical shell subjected to internal pressure and irradiated by laser beam in the laboratory, the estimation method of laser parameters on the shell-wall surface related to the damage configurations is theoretically studied. Neglecting the heat conduction in the direction of shell-wall surface, an analytical expression of temperature profile is obtained for the cylinder shell under laser-irradiation. According to the mechanical properties varying with temperature and internal pressure, analyses of the thermal crack formation, the thermal crack growth and the crack running are carried out. The laser parameters expression on the target surface is derived for the three kinds of damage configurations. Numerical calculation is performed for a 30CrMnSi-steel cylindrical shell, the numerical results accord with the experiment phenomenons. The results show that given the cylindrical shell properties and internal pressure, the damage configuration can be experimentally designed by the laser parameters choice.