A coarse-grained parallel genetic algorithm was proposed to optimize the damper arrangement in passive controlled structures． According to the algorithm，a population is divided into several sub-populations，which can independently complete the operation of genetic algorithm． For a given gene coding individual，the INP model files are firstly generated，numerical analysis is conducted in ABAQUS environment and the result data is read and transmitted in Python environment by using Matlab programming． Through the interactive use of Matlab-ABAQUS- Python，the value of objective function is figured out． A 10-story passive-controlled steel frame structure is selected as the research object，and the optimal design of damper arrangement is conducted by taking the inter-story drift an- gle as the control objective． The results show that the algorithm can not only improve the diversity of population compared with the classical genetic algorithm，but also accelerate the convergence speed of population． Compared with the results of the structure with the dampers placed in every two storeys，the inter-story drift reduction ratio of the structure equipped with the new algorithm can be increased by 19． 3% ，which indicates that the seismic re- sponse reduction ratio of the structure is greatly improved by using the algorithm．