Abstract: There are disputes over the inner failure mode of reinforced retaining wall. In view of this, centrifugal model tests were carried out to research the deformation and settlement of reinforced-sand retaining wall with grid material of different tensile strengths and grid sizes as the reinforcement material. The failure modes and the location of failure planes were preliminarily determined. Comparison of the centrifugal test results showed that the strength of reinforced sand and reinforcement material is a sensitive index to the failure mode. Reinforced sand retaining wall with higher strength has smaller failure plane, and vise versa. It’s concluded that the location and mode of failure is closely related with the restraining effect of reinforcement on backfill soil. When the restrain is stronger (which means that the strength is higher), the failure plane location gets closer to the free face, and the failure part is smaller.

Key words: geogrids, reinforced retaining wall, failure face, centrifuge test