The paper aims to interpret the physical and mechanical properties of a 3D soil-fibre composite at the macroscopic level in connection with the deformation mechanisms occurring at the granular level when subject to transient, cyclic and vibratory loading. The effectiveness of a new type of stress wave barrier, designed for shielding vibratory ground motion, has been evaluated when using a technique of prestressing on this composite, able to activate micro-friction between soil particles without reaching failure. Findings on energy dissipation by friction, obtained at natural gravity, are validated on centrifuge models that represent larger areas and take into account gravity effects.