Abstract:Orthogonal experimental design is applied to shield tunneling experiment with variable parameters combination. The effects of earth pressure,thrust force and cutting wheel rotation speed on the advance speed,and torque of cutting wheel are investigated by multivariate statistical analysis. The mathematical model of advanced speed and torque of cutting wheel of EPB(earth-pressure-balanced) shield in soft ground is proposed. The mean error of mathematical model is less than 10%. The achieved results show that the tunneling parameters which affect the advance speed and torque of cutting wheel are earth pressure,thrust force,and cutting wheel rotation speed in succession. The advanced speed and torque of cutting wheel are in direct proportion to the thrust force,but in inverse proportion to the earth pressure. The cutting wheel rotation speed has little effect on the advance speed.