As clayey soil is exposed to the effect of desiccation, water evaporates from the surface and higher tensile stresses allow the formation of cracks. The desiccation process creates a soil profile having an over consolidated soil layer at the surface. This paper deals with the centrifuge modelling of a cracked soil to determine the influence of cracks on the soil resistance, measured by the cone penetration test CPT. Soil models with artificial cracks were constructed using the IFSTTAR's geotechnical centrifuge equipped with new tools for modelling. To simulate a desiccated soil profile, the reduced scale models have an upper layer of over consolidated soil over a normal consolidated soil at the bottom. The first part of this paper deals with the centrifuge modelling of cracking soils: soil profile preparation and new adapted tools for modelling. The second part of this paper presents the results of the penetrometer resistance. An increase of the resistance was found in the soils with cracks. This increase was related to the decrease of water content by the effect of desiccation along cracks.