Abstract:Double-face reinforced earth retaining walls of 30.0~62.5 m high are modelled in centrifuge. The number of models is 34. In the tests,the maximum height of the retaining wall,the variation of lateral earth pressure,the vertical earth pressure and the shape of failure plane are determined. The experiments show that when the compacting factor is 0.90,the maximum height of the retaining wall with or without steps is 62.5 m,and when the compacting factor is 0.80,the height of the retaining wall with steps is 33.0 m and that without steps is 30.0 m. Failure surface begins at the foot of the earth retaining wall. When it arrives at the top of the backfill,the distance from the failure surface to the facing wall is 0.169 times the wall height. The failure width is (0.08~0.35)times the wall height on the top. The failure envelope is a log-spiral. When the construction is completed,the lateral displacements of the walls are almost finished with small values. The lateral earth pressure changes along the retaining wall. In the region 4 cm far from the top of backfill,the lateral earth pressure is near active earth pressure,while under the region,it is smaller than the active earth pressure and only a few points are between earth pressure at rest and active earth pressure. The vertical earth pressure has the similar distribution as that of lateral earth pressure. The obtained results can offer references to engineering design.