Abstract: The influence of rotational ground motion on structural response needs further study. A reinforced concrete frame structure model is established to analyze the dynamic response of the translational and rotational components of the ground motion independently and coupledly. When the rotational and translational components of ground motion are coupled， the structural response will be increased. The displacement of the top layer of the structure is significantly increased. The torsion angle between layers is significantly increased， and the torsional effect of the structure is significantly amplified. The coupling effect of rotational and translational components with velocity pulse is more important than that without velocity pulse. The application direction of the rotational component of ground motion has an influence on the dynamic response of the structure. Under the action of velocity pulse seismic wave， the rotation component alone can make the structure into elastic-plastic.