Tunnel boring machine serves as a piece of crucial excavation equipment in cross-river and cross-sea tunnel projects. However, the presence of gravelly soil strata in these projects poses significant challenges, resulting in substantial damage to the shield scraper. This study establishes discrete-element numerical models for gravel soils by inversing the macroscopic parameters obtained from triaxial tests on gravelly soils. Numerical simulations were subsequently carried out, and the impacts of different key factors on the cutting process of shield scrapers were investigated, and a force prediction model of the shield scraper was established using the multivariate adaptive regression spline. Laboratory experiments were conducted on a rotary test bench, and the experimental results show that the predicted cutting force of the shield scraper has an average error of 14.2% compared with the experimental results. As the gravel content escalates from 30% to 70%, the cutting force initially rises to a peak and then declines, with the peak occurring at about 62%. The penetration influences the cutting force more than the front rake angle and blade width. The impact of the front rake angle on the scraper performance is less apparent than other factors in high gravel content conditions.
