Abstract: The free vibration solution of a complex damping time domain motion equation contains divergent items which make the numerical results of the time domain divergent. Based on the frequency domain motion equation of a complex damping model, the hysteretic damping time domain motion equation can be obtained. According to the characteristics of a hysteretic damping model, the time domain theoretical calculation method of the hysteretic damping model is proposed based on the complex plane method and trigonometric series expression of earthquake acceleration records. It is assumed that the structural vibration response is a harmonic vibration response in a short time step. Based on the average acceleration method, the time domain numerical calculation method of the hysteretic damping model is proposed. The analysis results show that:compared with the time domain numerical method of a complex damping model, the two proposed methods can avoid the time domain divergence phenomena effectively. The time domain calculation results of the two proposed methods are approximately equal to the frequency domain calculation results of a complex damping model. The correctness of the two proposed methods is verified.