Abstract: The paper simulates the damaging process of a 9-story steel frame under EI-Centro earthquake ground motion using ABAQUS. In the analysis, the plastic damage model is combined with the nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening criteria and the damage evolution law of plastic displacement. The results show that the beam ends of upper floors undergo obvious plastic deformation and incur the appearance of damage domains. This observation is consistent with the observed seismic damage of high-rise steel structures during the Northridge earthquake.