The main objective of the present study is to examine the behavior of model soil barriers of landfill covers at the onset of differential settlements with and without geofiber reinforcement in a geotechnical centrifuge. A motor-based differential settlement simulator was used for inducing continuous differential settlements to the moist-compacted model soil barrier of 25 mm thickness without any overburden during flight at 40 gravities. Polyester fibers having 90 mm length and a dosage of 0.5% dry weight of soil barrier material were used as discrete and random reinforcement inclusions. The performance of soil barriers with and without geofiber reinforcement was monitored by measuring water breakthrough and in restraining cracking at the onset of differential settlements. It was found that a discrete and randomly distributed geofiber reinforced soil barrier without any overburden was found to be marginally superior in restraining cracking and sustained large distortion level at the onset of water breakthrough than un-reinforced soil barriers. © 2011 ASCE.