PurposeA large number of earthquake damages showed that infill walls have obvious influence on the seismic damage performance of RC frame structures. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of infill walls on the cumulative plastic deformation energy of RC frame structures, for which four RC frame structures are build and the time-history response analysis under unidirectional seismic action is presented.Design/methodology/approachThe time-history response analysis under unidirectional seismic action is presented. Then the effect of periodic reduction coefficient on the cumulative plastic deformation energy of the structures, the beams and the columns is investigated.FindingsFinally, the quantitative calculation formulas are provided. The results show that the periodic reduction coefficient has an obvious effect on the distribution of the accumulated plastic deformation energy, and the influence rules are presented here.Originality/valueThe effect of infill walls on the cumulative plastic deformation energy of RC frame structures is quantitatively analyzed here.