In the light of advances in geosynthetic materials the fabric reinforced walls are getting more cost-effective than the conventional concrete walls in both developed and developing countries. In addition, the use of locally available fill significantly reduces the overall cost of the project. Among many issues related to geosynthetics, the method of analysis of soil retaining structures is still a subject of debate. This study presents the numerical modeling of physical tests on scaled geotextile reinforced retaining walls. The aim is to predict the position of critical slip surface which is an important factor in cost-effective design of retaining systems. The effects of maximum shear strain contours and plastic yield zones on the positions and traces of slip surfaces were investigated for unreinforced and reinforced vertical walls.
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