Based on a project of pipe truss roof framing in Chengdu, the ultimate limit state analysis is performed on cast steel joints by using FEM, in which Linear hardening elastic-plastic constitutive model is considered. The results show that, the joint has a great accumulation of plastic strain in ultimate loads, and the point of maximum stress is different from that in elastic with the development of the yielding zone. The paper propoes to use rate-type tensor for the large strain geometric nonlinear problem, shows the criterion of failure formation , and indicates that its essential to apply limit state analysis to the determination of the weakest location on cast steel joint design, which provides basis for understanding the failure modes and failure mechanism of cast steel joint and the cast steel joint design.