In view of the differences of joint structure between segments of shield tunnel linings with and without the transmission cushion, different methods are adopted to analyze the segment joint's stress and deformation and the inner force-angular rotation curve of joint is obtained. The curvature of the curve is the joint stiffness, which exhibits a bilinear relationship with the joint moment. The joint stiffness with the cushion is one third to one fifth of that without the cushion. Finally, the effects on segment's stress and deformation due to the difference of the two kinds of joint structures are presented, which offer reference for the selection of joint structure. (A) This paper was presented at Safety in the underground space - Proceedings of the ITA-AITES 2006 World Tunnel Congress and the 32nd ITA General Assembly, Seoul, Korea, 22-27 April 2006. For the covering abstract see ITRD E129148. "Reprinted with permission from Elsevier".