Compared with ground with low cobble content, a high cobble content strata has characteristics such as large particle pores and point-to-point contact between particles, etc. During shield tunnelling, the large-grained skeleton structure in such strata is more prone to damage, leading to an unstable state. Based on a typical shield tunnel project, a model shield machine that can achieve functions such as cutterhead rotation and spiral discharging soil is used to conduct model test. Shield model tests all were achieved for both shallow tunnel (1.0 D) and deep tunnel (2.0 D) in high cobble content strata (rock content of 70%). Then, from the aspects of shield tunneling mechanical parameters, ground surface settlement curves and excavation face stability, the ground disturbance characteristics of shield tunnelling in high cobble content strata are analyzed. Test results show that for the high cobble content strata, under the same shield advancement parameters, the screw excavator torque shows little difference between shallow and deep tunnels. However, the stable value of cutterhead torque in shallow tunnel is less than that in deep tunnel. Under these two ground conditions, the ground surface settlement curves all show an asymmetric distribution about the tunnel centerline, and the eccentric position is related to the rotation direction of the cutterhead. When the cutterhead rotates clockwise, the symmetry axis of the settlement curve is located on the left side of the advancing direction. The failure modes of excavation face in both shallow and deep tunnels all present to be global instability, with collapse zones encompassing soil both ahead of and behind the cutterhead. Besides, the ground collapse morphologies induced by discharging soil or cutterhead retraction are all elliptical, with the major axis perpendicular to the shield advancement direction. However, the extent of ground collapse caused by discharging soil is larger than that induced by retraction failure, which is closely related to the corresponding ground loss.