Abstract: A new-type compact rotational lead shear damper was developed as a supplementary damping for beam-column joints in structures in this paper. Numerical analyses of the damper were carried out to study the influencing factors including the width, height of lead and amplitude, frequency, cycling of loading. The research results indicate that the rotational lead shear damper is characterized by plump hysteresis loops and steady performance, and it will he an excellent energy dissipation device.