Abstract: With the application of large span reticulated shells in significant projects, the fundamental theory of failure mechanism of such structures subjected to severe earthquakes becomes more and more important and becomes one of the primary concerns of the researchers. The paper sums up the research progress in the failure mechanism of large span reticulated shells under severe earthquakes in recent years. The analysis method reviewing full-range responses based on load domain is introduced. The two kinds of failure modes of reticulated shells, dynamic instability due to geometrical nonlinearity and the dynamic strength failure attributable to over-plastic damage accumulation, and their failure mechanism are presented. The paper also proposes the dynamic damage model of reticulated shells and the determination methods of the ultimate load of reticulated shells subjected to severe earthquakes is summarized. Then, three important effects on failure mechanism for reticulated shells under earthquakes, the material damage accumulation, supporting structure and multi-support excitation, are discussed.