Abstract: In order to obtain a rational method for seismic damage avoidance and earthquake resilience design of rocking self centering(RSC)double deck bridge bents,three kinds of RSC double deck bridge bents are proposed by using external steel angles,energy dissipation reinforcement and unbounded prestressing tendons.The first(model 1)and second(model 2)RSC bents are de-signed to rock in the upper and down floor,respectively.The third bent(model 3)is designed to rock in both floors.Also,acommonly used reinforced concrete(RC)bridge bent(model 4)is designed as reference specimen.Detailed numerical seismic analysismodels for all the bents are built,and the accuracy of the modeling method is verified by comparing with quasistatic test results ofan one-ayer RSC bent.The failure criterion of the bents under strong ground motion are defined.Then,the seismic behavior of thethree kinds of RSC bents under nearfault ground motions are analyzed.The results show that all the RSC bents show much largerfundamental vibration period compared with commonly used RC bent(model 4).Under the motions with a PGA of0.1g,the external steel angles wil yield and absorb seismic energy in all the RSC bents.Under the motions with a PGA of0.4g,the residualstory drift ratios of the RC and RSC bridge bents are 0.82%and near 0,respectively,and all the prestessing tendons in the RSCbents are in elastic range.All the steel angles except in the model 1 show fracture damage.The down floor piers in the model4show much larger curvature ductility factor than that in the down floor(not the rocking floor)piers of the model 1 and upper floor(not the rocking floor)piers of the model 2 under near-fault ground motions with a PGA of 0.4g.