Fatigue reliability analysis of tunnelling boring machine cutterhead with cracks

•The fatigue crack propagation rate model of cutterhead under different reliability was established and the damage tolerance of cutterhead is Proposed.•The dangerous position of cutterhead failure was determined by using finite element method.•The fatigue propagation life of cutterhead under different reliability was calculated using the Paris model.•The main factors affecting the reliability of cutterhead were analyzed.