Abstract: Stratum deformation and the overall stability of river embankments are key points in river-crossing shield tunnelling. Using the north river embankment section of the Nanjing Weisan Road river-crossing tunnel as an example, a numerical simulation of the construction process was made using finite difference software. This paper analyzes the influences of shield tunnelling on stratum deformation and overall stability of embankments, and compares settlement and stability differences under different grouting effects, slope coefficients and buried depths. The results show that: 1) the maximum settlement occurs at the center point of the top of the embankment and the maximum longitudinal displacement of the slope towards the water occurs near the midpoint of the slope; 2) the safety factor decreases with shield tunnelling at the slope towards the water, for which the trend is most significant at the front half of the slope; 3) the influence of the grouting effect on embankment settlement is significant, less so regarding the buried depth and minimal regarding the slope coefficient; and 4) the slope coefficient has the greatest influence on slope stability while it has the smallest influence on the grouting effect.