Abstract: A slurry balance shield with diameter of ?6 240 mm is adopted for the 1.6 km long Changqingqiao sta? tion-Hunnan Avenue station running tunnel of lot 11 of Shenyang metro line 10 which passes through the stratum mainly composed of water-rich gravel layer with the maximum particle size of 110 mm. The cutter wear is effectively reduced and no replacement of cutterhead is taken in the whole construction process by optimizing and adjusting the type selection of shield cutterhead and slurry parameters. The main conclusions are as follows: a set of targeted slurry shield cutterhead configuration option is put forward through analyzing the type selection and configuration of cutterhead in shield design and the cutter tool wear condition after breakthrough of the tunnel; based on an analysis of driving parameters, it is found that increasing the viscosity can improve the effect of slurry support but it is easy to form filter cake on the front of shield cutterhead, thus the gravel muck at front can′ t enter into earth chamber smoothly, causing occurrence of abnormal torque and thrust; the reasonable indexes of slurry parameters for slurry shield in water-rich gravel layer are summarized by analyzing the changes of torque and thrust of the shield under different viscosities and specific gravities.