Abstract The current-limiting performance of the dc resistive-type superconducting fault current limiter (dc R-SFCL) is vital to the reliability in the high voltage dc current (HVDC) transmission system. It is expensive and difficult to utilize the discharging process of the precharged dc capacitor to evaluate the current-limiting performance. In this paper, a R-Q curve based evaluation method for current-limiting performance of dc R-SFCLs in dc system is proposed, which replaces the dc impulse experiment with ac impulse experiment. A ± 160kV dc SFCL prototype is designed by Guangdong Power Grid Co., Ltd., and tested to acquire the experimental heat accumulation Q and the experimental R-Q curve. Accordingly, the mathematical model consistent with the prototype is built in PSCAD. Finally, a fault condition is simulated in dc system to verify the feasibility of the R-Q curve based evaluation method. It is shown that the proposed method has superior properties in simplifying the testing platform, reducing the test requirements and costs, and providing reference for precise modeling of SFCLs.