To study the structural characteristics of the erected reinforced soil retaining wall(RSRW),we establish a discrete element numerical model of the erected RSRW by particle flow code(PFC2D）in the view of the microstructure to research the mechanism of the erected reinforced soil retaining wall,and analyze the change law of the displacement field,stress field and contacted force chains under the exterior loads from the microstructure.The research result shows that the horizontal movement trend of soil in the reinforced area is more obvious than that in the unreinforced area,however,the resistance of geogrids to the soil can minimize the horizontal displacement of soil effectively.The stress level in the reinforced area of the RSRW is lower than that in the unreinforced area,and the number of the strong contact force chain in the reinforced area is obviously higher than that in the unreinforced area.It reveales that the geogrids plays the role of strengthening soil.