Abstract: The performance of aircraft arresting system (AAS) and strength of net barrier was evaluated by means of nonlinear finite element (FE), considering contact, net mass and material properties. Key problems, such as FE model, boundary condition and numerical convergence caused by complex nonlinear system, were solved. The simulation results provide stress distribution of AAS to evaluate strength margin of the net barrier. It is worth well of pointing out that the method can also be used to check effectiveness of controller-s method. The results also show that this method could describe arresting processes closely to actual state. Consequently, the procedures can be effective in an AAS design.