The stress transfer mechanism between soil and grid reinforcements involves two basic mechanism : frictional soil resistance and passive soil resistance. However the mechanism of the passive soil resistance is very complex to understand. To study the failure mechanism of ribbed reinforcement, the direct shear tests which are dominated by passive soil resistance are analyzed by using the finite element method. The finite element method is used to examine the effects of ribs on this passive soil resistance development and the met hanism of failure. The calculated behavior of the ribbed reinforcement is compared with the measured behavi or. Comparisons between the measured and the simulated strain pat terns, failure modes and load displacement relationship are presented. The behavior of the ribbed reinforcements in a cohesive soil is predicted on the basis of a good agreement between the measured and the Predicted behavior of the Ottawa sand.