Prediction of the fatigue endurance of ropes subject to fluctuating tension

This paper reviews results on the tensile behaviour of wire rope in fatigue loading. Potential problems relating to the nature of scatter in results are discussed in the context of providing recommendations for design policy. A discussion is presented of the evidence for a stepped size effect causing small ropes to behave quite differently from larger ropes. Finally the influence of the uniformity of load sharing between wires is discussed in terms of its influence on fatigue.