Abstract: To accurately simulate the buckling characteristics of transmission tower members, a combined buckling element is proposed in this paper. Based on the basic theory of finite element method, the proposed element uses macroscopic plastic hinges to implement the nonlinearity of the member materials. Tension and compression springs are used to simulate the axial plastic elongation, while rotating springs are used to simulate plastic bending. A static and dynamic simulation program based on the proposed element was written based on MATLAB and applied to the static pushover analysis and collapse simulation of transmission tower structures. By comparing the simulation results of the self-written program with ABAQUS, the correctness of the self-written program in geometric nonlinearity and dynamic solution was verified. Compared with the experimental data of steel braces, the accuracy and applicability of the combined buckling element in the simulation of the nonlinear behavior were verified. The proposed element was used to simulate the full-scale experiment of a transmission tower. The results show that the combined buckling element can effectively predict the ultimate strength, failure location and collapse process of the transmission tower.