In order to explore the damage of the reinforced concrete bridge pier under the impact load of rockfall in mountain area, a damage constitutive model proposed by Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC) was used for simulating concrete in explicit dynamic analysis. The numerical stability of the calculation results was verified via energy conversation principle. A group of parameters, including impact height, velocity, elevation angle and the rock diameter, were taken into account to study their effects on the damage degree of the bridge pier from points of view of failure volume rate and top displacement. By comparing with experimental results in acceleration history and failure characteristics, the simulation results were proved to be reasonable. The results indicated that failure development of the reinforced concrete bridge pier under the impact load of rockfall could be simulated properly by HJC constitutive model. Furthermore, under high energy impact load, both rock diameter and impact velocity have a significant effect on damage degree.
