Abstract: Proposed a method to identify the failure mode of high-rise steel frame structures based on the ground motion characteristic parameters, and discussed the control method to achieve uniform damage between storeys using viscous damper. With ground motion record of 20 groups, the failure mode of high-rise steel frame structure under different ground motions is defined according to the variety of the maximum storey drift ratio; the influence of structural mode shape participation weight on failure mode is analyzed; and the control effect of viscous damper arrangement scheme on different failure modes is finally calculated to optimize the failure mode. The results show that the failure mode of high-rise steel frame structure analyzed is related to the ratio of the product of seismic acceleration response spectrum values corresponding to the periods of the first and second mode of the structure and the corresponding mode shape participation weight, and that it can be classified into two types, including the low-storey failure mode and middle- and high-storey failure mode. The method can identify the failure mode with an accuracy of 85% for the low-storey failure mode and 92% for the middle- and high-storey failure mode. The proposed arrangement of viscous dampers can lead to a uniform damage pattern among storeys. The difference of the peak storey drift ratio for the structure with dampers is reduced from 0.024 rad to 0.002 rad, and the overall inter-storey drift uniformity is reduced from 0.37 to 0.11.