Stratigraphic composition has an important influence or restrict on fault structure. Fault structure characteristics with different sandstone contents of strata have been researched based on physical simulation experiments. The experiments show that the fault is a binary type when the sandstone content is 100%；the fault develops into a unary type while the shale content is 4%-16% and a binary type while the shale content is 16%-20%；and it develops into binary or ternary type with unclear boundaries while the shale content is 20%-35%；the fault is binary type again when the shale content is 35%-50% and becomes unary type when shale content is 50%-100%. There is an apparent positive correlation among the shale content，the width of damage zone and the number of induced joints，which is an approximately normal distribution.