Abstract: For fatigue fracture of steel structures, it is an important issue to investigate crack initiation and propagation behavior. Beach marking technique is discussed, which is a low-cost and effective method for detecting fatigue crack initiation and propagation in steel structures. The development history and research status of this method are reviewed. The basic principles and key challenges of this method are summarized. Meanwhile, fatigue tests on welded H-section steel beams were carried out to explore its practical effect for the application in full size structural members, which demonstrate how to detect fatigue crack initiation and propagation. It is concluded that beach marking technique is an effective approach to investigate the behavior of fatigue crack growth. The key point of this method is to design a proper loading spectrum. Fatigue crack propagation law and relevant parameters can be obtained by analyzing beach markings left on the surface of fatigue fracture as well as using theory of fracture mechanics, which provides scientific basis for numerical analysis of fatigue life of steel structures.