Abstract Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is an effective machine for building hard-rock tunnel. However, the interaction between the cutter of TBM and rock is the key factor before engineering construction, which will cause a lot of unnecessary losses and trouble in the construction process. The reason is that the disc cutter, the core tool of TBM broken easily during the construction process. Engineering practice shows that TBM cutters’ overhaul (including inspection, replacement and repairment) in high abrasive stratum takes almost one-third time of tunnelling as well as the cost of digging construction. To address the problems mentioned above, it is necessary to study the cutter wear prediction of the high abrasive stratum. In this paper, based on the working principle of TBM, the experimental disc cutters were scaled to 1/10 of the actual cutter, and a composite wear test device model of the cutter had been manufactured. Furthermore, the engineering data was collected from the Yin Han Ji Wei project as an example to establish a TBM cutter wear prediction method. The results show that the model can be used to make wear experiments of small size cutters and the cutter life prediction of TBM.