Abstract: Bridge pier type has a great impact on the backwater height in the front of bridge pier. To optimize the bridge design scheme and reduce the backwater impact on flood control, a physical model of wide flume has been established to test and analyze the backwater height cased by different types of bridge pier. The study shows that the optimal characteristic parameters (b'/L) of side profile curve of bridge pier are from 0.071 to 0.083; the dominance angles of square pier, streamline pier and bi-circular pier are different; the backwater height of the streamline pier is lowest when the angle between pier axis and water flow direction is less than 36°, otherwise the backwater height of the bi-circular pier is the lowest.