Abstract: Due to the rapid development of the prefabricated construction and one-side bolts, end-plate connections are more widely used in steel structures. The strength of this kind of connections is calculated based on the yield line theory which depends on the assumption of a yield pattern. For a specific end-plate connection, there are several different yield patterns and they may not be reused in other connections since the yield patterns are sensitive to the joint size and configuration. Therefore, the application of this theory is complicated. An easy and general method called the segmentation method is proposed in this paper to calculate the yield load of the tension zone in an end-plate connection. The main idea of this method is to divide the perforated plate (the column wall and end-plates, etc.) into several rectangular plates with a single hole, calculate the yield load of each divided plate, and then add up them to obtain the yield load of the entire perforated plate. This method can eliminate the dependency on a specific yield pattern without reducing the accuracy. The yield load calculation considers the influence of the plate size, boundary conditions and the bolt-hole diameter and position. The accuracy and reliability of the method are verified by finite element (FE) analyses and existing test results.