An elastic modulus reduction method is proposed for the ultimate load bearing capacity evaluation of frame structures

based on the element bearing ratio（EBR） and the conservation of strain energy.The EBR is defined for discrete elements by either employing the generalized yield criteria or a dominant inner force.Then the reference EBR is selected according to the degree of uniformity as well as the extremum of EBRs in the structure.The elastic modulus in the element with a higher EBR

compared to the reference one

is reduced according to the linear elastic finite element analysis and the conservation of strain energy.A lower-bound of the ultimate load bearing capacity of the frame structure is determined finally.The numerical examples in this paper have demonstrated the flexibility

accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.