Abstract: The catenary finite element deduced by H.B.Jayaraman in 1980's is very suitable to the calculation of large-scale cable structures for its higher precision compared to other cable finite elements. The initial unstressed length of catenary cable is indispensable in order to start the procedure proposed by H.B.Jayaraman. In practice, however, the desired stress level of cable structures is obtained through controlling the end tension forces of cables or measuring the stressed length of cables. This makes the application of catenary cable finite element difficult. In this paper, the incremental relationship between the stressed length or end tension forces and the unstressed length of cables is derived and the corresponding iterative procedure is presented. The results of three examples show that the method proposed in this paper is stable and quickly convergent.