Abstract: The rotational stiffness of disk lock joint possesses an important impact on the stable bearing capacity of the disk lock steel tubular scaffold, but the existing studies do not consider the difference of the clockwise/anticlockwise rotational stiffness of the disk lock joint. In order to further improve the prediction accuracy to the stable bearing capacity of the disk lock steel tubular scaffold, a three-dimensional refined finite element model was established for the disk lock joint according to the real size of each component. An elastoplastic constitutive model was used based on the isotropic hardening law and the associated flow rule to describe the complete deformation process of the material, and a penalty stiffness method was used to accurately simulate the interaction between different components. Thus, a complete moment-rotation curve of the disk lock joint, including the difference of clockwise/anticlockwise rotational stiffness, was obtained and was verified by experiments. The research results show that the moment-rotation curve and stiffness variation law under clockwise/anticlockwise rotation of the disk lock joint are similar, but the bearing capacity and rotational stiffness in anticlockwise rotation are greater than the case in clockwise rotation. The analysis results of the scaffold stability bearing capacity based on the complete moment-rotation curve are consistent with the vertical loading test results, which verifies the applicability of the complete moment-rotation curve of the disk lock joint to the prediction of the stable bearing capacity of the disk lock steel tubular scaffold.