This paper presents a combined experimental and computational methodology for fretting wear-fatigue prediction of pressure armour wire in flexible marine risers. Fretting wear, friction and fatigue parameters of pressure armour material have been characterised experimentally. A combined fretting wear-fatigue finite element model has been developed using an adaptive meshing technique and the effect of bending-induced tangential slip has been characterised. It has been shown that a surface damage parameter combined with a multiaxial fatigue parameter can accurately predict the beneficial effect of fretting wear on fatigue predictions. This provides a computationally efficient design tool for fretting in the pressure armour layer of flexible marine risers. •Fretting wear-fatigue model predict effect of tangential slip on crack initiation.•Experimental testing on representative pressure armour steel.•Identification of fatigue, friction and wear parameters.•Fretting surface damage parameter combined with multiaxial fatigue parameter.•Prediction of beneficial effect of wear-induced stress re-distribution on fatigue.