So what happens after the UE detects that the link failed?

If the UE determines that the Radio Link fails, the UE will try to reconnect with an RRC
Connection Reestablishment Request message. There are a number of cases that
could occur based on vendor implementation.
What if the eNodeB does not support RRC Connection Reestablishment?
The case shown in the figure below is the simplest case where the eNB does not
support RRC Connection reestablishment. In this case, the eNB responds with an RRC
Connection Reestablishment Reject message. Simultaneously, the eNB will realize that
the radio link has failed and request the connection to be release to the MME. It first
requests to drop the UE Context or the connection to the UE. The cause value is set to
Radio Connection with UE Lost. The MME will respond with a UE Context Release
Command. At this point, the eNodeB will respond with the UE Context Release
Complete message to the MME and will release the RRC connection with the UE by
sending an RRC Connection Release to the UE. Depending on the RF conditions, the
UE may or may not receive this message.

What if the eNodeB does support RRC Connection Reestablishment?
If the eNodeB supports RRC connection Reestablishment, and assuming that the
eNodeB finds both the UL and DL in synch when it receives the RRC connection
reestablishment request message, two scenarios may occur: RRC connection
reestablishment success and failure.
In the case of an RRC connection reestablishment success, the following signaling is
carried exchanged.