The objective of this paper is to formulate and validate an accurate MPM approach for the numerical simulation of the large displacement of membranes containing soil. In the proposed approach, the membrane is discretised by a surface mesh that allows accurate simulation of membrane stresses. The membrane is free to move through a three-dimensional grid for a continuum consisting of tetrahedral elements. The approach is applied to model a geocontainer being released from a split barge, taking into account the frictional contact between the geotextile and the barge. No-slip contact is assumed between the geotextile and the soil inside. The effect of geocontainer interaction is investigated by dropping a second container. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.