Abstract: Cutterhead pitch of shield used in inclined shaft is an unfavorable posture in downhill shield tunnelling, and the extent of pitch affects the forming quality of inclined tunnel directly. At present, there is little domestic research on cutterhead pitch of shield used in inclined shaft, and there are few models describing the cutterhead pitch of shield used in inclined shaft. Furthermore, the thrust system is adopted to adjust cutterhead pitch of shield, but its thrust allocation is mainly based on experience which has certain blindness. In light of the different settlements at shield head and tail, a subgrade reaction distribution model was established, which can describe the cutterhead pitch of shield used in inclined shaft, the relationship between thrust allocation of thrust system and extent of cutterhead pitch was studied, and a scheme of critical thrust allocation of thrusting system was obtained.