In order to analyze the settlement and energy dissipation characteristics of ballast under cyclic load, the box test of ballast under cyclic loading was carried out by using hydraulic servo fatigue machine, and the settlement law of ballast was obtained. In addition, the discrete element numerical simulation method is used to simulate the test of ballast box. On this basis, the settlement law of ballast under different loading conditions is analyzed, and the change law of ballast energy in the process of cyclic loading and unloading is analyzed. The results show that the settlement of sleeper under cyclic load can be divided into two stages, the first is the rapid settlement stage, after a period of circulation into the stable settlement stage. In each cycle, the sleeper settlement can be divided into elastic recoverable deformation and non-recoverable plastic deformation. The discrete element simulation method can be used to better simulate the box test, and this numerical simulation method can be used to analyze the mesoscopic characteristics of ballast under the action of circulation. Both friction coefficient and damping ratio have effects on the settlement and energy dissipation of the bed. The smaller the coefficient of friction, the smaller the settling of the sleeper, because the smaller the coefficient of friction, the more likely the dislocation between the particles is to occur. But for the damping ratio, there's a different rule. Although the greater the damping ratio, the greater the sleeper settlement, but when the damping ratio is 0.2 rather than 0, the settlement is minimum. When the damping is large, the damping consumes more energy. However, the friction coefficient also has an effect on the damping energy consumption. Under the same damping ratio, the smaller the friction coefficient is, the greater the damping energy consumption will be. The damping energy consumption increases linearly with the increase of loading times. For the total friction energy consumption, it does not mean that the greater the friction coefficient, the greater the energy consumption. This may be because a higher coefficient of friction may make it more difficult for particles to slide relative to each other and between particles and walls.