Abstract: In order to study the energy-based seismic design method of RC beam members, it is necessary to establish a reasonable damage index to quantify the structural damage. The research group established the relationship between the energy dissipation capacity of RC beam members and the displacement amplitude, cumulative energy dissipation and design parameters in the early stage, and proposed the damage index of energy dissipation capacity and performance index limits of RC beam members. Referring to existing research, the seismic design method of RC beam members was proposed based on the damage index of energy dissipation capacity. It is found that the seismic design method can establish a quantitative relationship between structural design parameters and seismic parameters, so as to guide the structural design; The increase of stirrup ratio can effectively slow down the damage of RC beam members, but the effect of damage reduction is quick and then slow; The increase of duration can aggravate the damage development of RC beam member, and the increase effect is fast and then slow; The increase of reinforcement ratio can reduce the damage of RC beam members as a whole. This seismic design method can make up for the deficiency of the current building seismic design code that the time lasting effect is not considered.