Geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported embankments are widely used as a geotechnical solution for constructions over soils with high compressibility and low bearing capacity, such as soft soils.  In this type of structure two phenomena are observed, the soil arching and the membrane effect. They are responsible for transferring part of the embankment stresses and external loads over the soft soil to the piles. This study aims to understand the influence of using single-layered and double-layered geosynthetic in these phenomena. This is done through the construction of large-scale physical models and numerical models considering single-layered and double-layered geosynthetic. The physical model was built at the Geotechnical Laboratory of COPPE/UFRJ and simulates a plain strain condition. It has two pile caps and one hydraulic platform elevator system, which is lowered to simulate the soft soil settlement. The monitoring system includes strain cells to measure the tension in the geogrid, soil-total-pressure transducers to monitor stresses over the pile caps, load cells to obtain the loads on the trapdoor and settlement gages to measure the platform displacement and differential settlement in the top of the fill. The numerical model was developed using the finite element software Plaxis 2D 2016. The construction of the physical model was important to validate the results found with the numerical analysis. This study discusses and compares the results obtained considering a single-layered and double-layered.