As an important mean of seismic design, synthetic ground earthquake motion can simulate seismic waveforms with specified frequency and amplitude to evaluate the seismic performance of bridge structures. Based on synthetic ground earthquake motion, the failure mechanism and structural deformation characteristics of bridges are studied, the application and influence of seismic resistance of near-fault bridges are summarized, and the research direction of seismic resistance of near-fault bridges is proposed. The results show that the structural response caused by the near-fault ground earthquake motion with slip effect pulse is much greater than that caused by the near-fault ground earthquake motion with directional effect pulse by extracting the pulse components of the earthquake wave. When both the slip effect and the directivity effect reach the peak of the pulse, the structural response is the most obvious, causing serious earthquake damage. The permanent displacement of the displacement caused by the ground earthquake motion with the sliding effect pulse will further aggravate the earthquake damage. The viscoelastic artificial boundary can apply seismic loads to the substructure joints, and the time course analysis results are closer to reality. The results can provide effective support for the earthquake design and safety assessment of bridge engineering.