Abstract: To study the wear difference of disc cutters of various tunnel boring machine (TBM) cutterheads used in a water conveyance project in Xinjiang, the wear data measured from the disc cutters of TBMs #4 and #5 are analyzed, and the effect of factors, including the number of mucking slots and the angle between mucking slot and adjacent disc cutter, are studied using a numerical induction method. The vector analytical results show the following. (1) The number of mucking slots has a significant effect on the disc cutter wear, and the more the mucking slots, the less the disc cutter wears, and more mucking slots should be arranged in the cutterhead design. (2) The disc cutter should be arranged close to the front mucking slot. (3) When multiple disc cutters are arranged between adjacent mucking slots, the lateral disc cutter should be close to the front mucking slot.

Key words: TBM, mucking slot, disc cutter wear, angle, cutterhead, vector