Abstract: In order to study the relationship among working life of wire rope and D/d (the ratio between drum diameter and wire rope diameter) and terminal tension, the model of wire rope wrapping around the drum established by CATIA is input into finite element software ABAQUS to carry out simulated analysis, and the obtained result is transmitted into fatigue software FE-safe, and the working life of wire rope bending around different drum diameters with different terminal tension is acquired. The research result shows that when the ration between drum diameter and wire rope diameter is increasing, the maximum stress in wire rope is decreasing, while the working life of wire rope is increasing; the working life of wire rope depends on D/d and terminal tension.