Abstract: By introducing the generalized method of cells (GMC) into plastic limit analysis, the bearing capacity of ductile composites is studied. To reflect the microstructures of a composite, a representative volume element (REV) is first selected. A strategy for the direct computation of the limit load of a REV is then proposed with the concept of macroscopic strength domain. By means of static limit approach and finite element method, the numerical modeling of the plastic limit analysis of a composite is formulated as a nonlinear mathematical programming with constraint conditions, which can be solved by the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method. Numerical results show that this method presents an effective tool for the strength analysis of ductile composites.