Based on the thermoelastic mechanism of laser ultrasonic, a finite element model for simulating laser-generated circumferential wave in a hollow cylinder is developed. A control calculation is executed to verify the correctness of the model according to the study of Gao et al (J. Appl. Phys. 91, 6114 (2002)). Our calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental signals obtained by Gao et al. And then, the circumferential waves induced by line laser source in hollow cylinders with different thicknesses and different radii are simulated and typical results are presented. Based on the numerical calculations, the difference between circumferential guided waves in hollow cylinder and Lamb waves in a plate, and the influence of the thickness and radius on the circumferential waves are discussed in detail.