Abstract: Aiming at the problem that the accuracy of traditional intelligent optimization algorithms in fault section location of distribution networks will greatly decrease with the expansion of the scale of distribution networks, a fault section location method for distribution networks based on improved electromagnetism-like mechanism（IELM） algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the integrated structure of the traditional fault location method is optimized based on the idea of hierarchical processing and global optimization. By changing the algorithm structure, the hierarchical processing of single-fault and multiple-fault is realized, and the solution space of multiple-fault location is reduced. Based on the structure optimization, the electromagnetism-like mechanism（ELM） is improved. Therefore, the impact of the global electric charge on the single electric charge is ignored; the learning ability of the single electric charge to the optimal electric charge is highlighted; and the global optimization ability and operation efficiency are improved. Finally, the IEEE 13-bus radiation distribution network with single power source and the modified 119-bus distribution network with four power sources are employed as simulation test systems. The test results demonstrate that the proposed fault section location method has the advantages of high accuracy, good fault tolerance, fast location speed and good dimension reduction effect for the distribution networks with different structures and scales and it also has a good application prospect in large-scale distribution networks.