Using the hysteresis test results of corroded reinforced concrete columns, the accuracy of the model of corroded steel in reinforced concrete structures was validated. The feasibility of OPENSEES program for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of reinforced concrete structure was verified with the shaking-table test results of reinforced concrete frame. With the program and 30 seismic ground motions selected from the PEER database, a dynamic elastic-plastic finite element model was built. And then, the seismic performance of a corroded reinforced concrete bridge column subjected to far-field earthquake, near-field earthquake with or without impulse action was measured by the nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis in order to study the steel corrosion effect on the structural response under three types of earthquake ground motions. Aiming at the near-field earthquake with impulse action, the Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) was carried out, the IDA curves and the influence of steel corrosion on the seismic performance of the bridge columns were obtained. The results show that near-field earthquake with pulse action has the most significant effect on the structural seismic performance when considering the corrosion, and special attention should be paid to that during structural seismic design.