Abstract: This paper firstly describes the development history and the present situation of soil mechanics, them shows features and the complicacy of geotechnical engineering and soil mechanics. All this may lead to the conclusion that the problems concerning soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering cannot be perfectly solved only with the present soil mechanics theory and numerical method. The centrifugal modelling test, owing to its replication property of in-situ stress level of structures, can be used to predict the working condition of geotechnical engineering, or to verify some principles of soil mechanics. For this reason, this testing method is getting popular. However the centrifugal modelling test just play a complementary role rather than a repellent role to the present research methods.