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Due to its complex geometry and high nonlinearity of inter-wire contact, the efficient prediction of the mechanical properties of a 91-wire strand is difficult by using the conventional three-dimensional solid finite element model (FEM). In this paper, a beam FEM for efficient analysis of the mechanical behavior of multilayered wire strands is applied to study the tensile behavior of the 91-wire strand. The beam FEM has a small model size and can be capable of taking into account the nonlinear factors such as the uneven wire bending, contact deformation and wire material plasticity etc. (International Journal of Perfomability Engineering (2017). By using the beam FEM, the axial tensile properties of the 91-wire strand have been predicted efficiently. The finite element analysis results have a good agreement with the experimental test results. Moreover, the contact behavior between contacted wires and the influences of above factors on the strand axial properties have also been analyzed effectively.