The freeze-sealing pipe roof (FSPR) method has been applied to the Gongbei tunnel of the Hongkong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, which is the first application of this method in the world. The purpose of the ground-freezing method is soil waterproofing. Temperature is an important indicator for measuring the freezing effect; however, the FSPR method involves unsteady-state conjugate heat transfer between frozen soil, steel pipes, concrete, air, and other media. This paper proposes an unsteady-state conjugate heat transfer model and establishes a global solution algorithm of a strong coupling governing equation based on the virtual density method. Then, a calculation based on COMSOL software is realized and validated. The sensitivity of different factors such as initial formation temperature, different soil layers, and brine temperature on the freezing effect was studied by simulating the FSPR model. It is concluded that the brine temperature had a greater impact on the freezing effect, followed by the soil layer, whereas the formation temperature had the least impact. For muddy silty clay, if the brine temperature is −20 °C, it takes 44 days to meet the design requirements of 2 m. If the brine temperature is −30 °C, 27 days is enough. When the formation temperature is 20 °C, it takes 20 days for medium gravel sand to reach the thickness of the freezing curtain, and 32 days for muddy silty clay. Compared to other soil layers, the freezing effect of the medium gravel sand is relatively better. This research has a certain impetus to similar multimedia freezing heat transfer issues.

When the shield machines are constructed in soft soil, excavation may be impeded by the accumulation of cutter head mud. Geological conditions and shield construction are identified as the main factors for cutter head mud formation, based on analysis of its mechanism. In addition to traditional metrics, the imperforation area in the cutter head center is incorporated into the analysis of shield construction factors. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is utilized to establish a risk assessment model for shield cutter head mud cake, determining the weight of each sub-factor and enabling a preliminary risk assessment of mud cake occurrence. This study applies Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to classify the factors affecting shield mud by using the Mawan cross-sea channel construction project (Moon Bay Avenue along the Yangtze River) as a case study. Each factor is scored and weighted according to established scoring criteria and evaluation formulas, and then the results of the risk of shield mud cake in the Mawan tunnel are obtained. Moreover, field observations validate the proposed risk model, with the derived risk index demonstrating strong alignment with actual data.