Geosynthetic materials used as compressible layers against rigid wall structures can be employed to induce controlled yielding of the retained soil backfill during construction, and thereby ensure minimum lateral earth pressures on the structure. This paper describes two sets of numerical simulations that were carried out to model the controlled yielding concept. The simulations used a finite-element method together with a hyperbolic constitutive soil model. The first set of simulations was used to validate the FEM approach by comparing in the literature. The second of simulations was carried out to generate preliminary design charts for the selection of stiffness and thickness of compressible layers placed against rigid walls retaining well-graded sand backfills compacted to a range of densities. © 1992.