A mechanical model and analytic method are proposed, in which, the axial, the shearing and the bending semi-rigid characteristics of space frames are taken into account. An independent zero-length connection element comprising six translational and rotational springs is used to simulate the beam-to-column connection. The model, namely six-spring mechanical model, has an advantage that the element number of structure does not increase. The matrix displacement method is used to analyze mechanism of the model, including element analysis and structural analysis. The stiffness matrix of the element is derived. Some reaction forces at the end of the element are obtained when it is subjected to two kinds of different loads respectively. The obtained stiffness matrix gets the characteristics of symmetry and singularity and that makes the size of total stiffness matrix for semi-rigid frame the same as that for frame with rigid joints.