###### Abstract  
The earth pressure balance shield machine (EPB) is an important piece of engineering equipment used in tunnel excavation and plays an important role in large underground tunnel projects. This article takes the sand and gravel formation as the research object, while discrete element simulation is utilized to study the correlation between cutterhead torque and thrust and other parameters. The EPB tunneling experiment was carried out by setting up formations with different sand and gravel contents. The reliability of the simulation model was verified by the experimental data, which provided the data samples for the training of the excavation formation identification network. Finally, a GTNet (gated Transformer network) based on the formation identification method was proposed. The reliability of the network model was verified by contrasting the model used with other network models and by analyzing the results of experiment and visualization. The effects of different parameters were weighted using the ablation study for tunneling parameters. The proposed method has a high accuracy of 0.99, and the cutterhead torque and thrust have a great recognition feature, the weight of which is over 0.95. This paper can provide significant guidance for the torque and thrust analysis of cutterheads in tunnel construction. s _article_sup._sup. and studied the relationship between the face supporting pressure and the rotational speed of the cutterhead. [PERSON] et al. [10] proposed a modified approach, which can be used as a guide to reduce the risk of cost and time overruns. [PERSON] et al. [11] studied the ground damage caused by earth pressure balance shield machines in granular soil, while the indoor experiments and the three-dimensional discrete element method were utilized, and the dynamic excavation process was simulated. These scholars also studied the stability of the working face of the shield tunnel with dry particles through earth pressure balance using the discrete element method. The failure modes of the working face under different rotational speeds and opening rates were determined [12]. [PERSON] et al. [13] enhanced tunneling efficiency by modifying the scouring flux and measured the tunneling performance parameters. Due to the limitations caused by conditions during the construction process of the shield machine, it is impossible to directly observe the interaction between the formation and the equipment. Therefore, many scholars use a shield machine simulation test bench to conduct research on formation identification and the parameter control of the shield machine. [PERSON] et al. [14] used a shield machine test bench to study the opening ratio and rotation speed of the cutterhead and observed an increase in the limit support pressure. [PERSON] et al. [15] conducted passive instability rock and soil model tests for tunnels of different burial depths and studied the surface stability of the tunnels. [PERSON] et al. [16] established a shield offset load model test device to study the shield attitude changes in soil and rock formations. [PERSON] et al. [17] designed a composite shield machine test bench and analyzed the variation laws of tunnel displacement, stress, and permeation pressure. There are few studies that concentrate on the cutterhead system of earth pressure balance shield machines, and there is a lack of research that combines the structure of the shield cutterhead, working parameters, and formation characteristics. In the field of shield machine tunnel engineering, machine learning is utilized. Regarding formation identification and classification, [PERSON] et al. [18] established an automatic geological condition prediction model based on geological data, and the operation parameters were calculated using the K-means algorithm. [PERSON] et al. [19] used the SCA-GS algorithm for geological feature prediction and compared the recorded geological features with the predicted features.