The bending moment of tunnel lining can be influenced by non-uniform ground pressures and joint eccentricities. Influence of joint interaction that induces flexural moment behaviour in segmental tunnel lining was investigated for the project Circle Line Stage 3 (C852), Serangoon Interchange Station. By considering behaviour of segment joint (which can affects the tunnel circumferential and longitudinal safety in overall), the tunnel lining behaviour and displacement of the ground surrounding the tunnel were evaluated. The segment joint modelling in simplified dual-jointed model and in fully soil-tunnel model were developed to assess the effect of segment joint on the overall tunnel response. Ground deformation or settlement trough at the ground surface resulted from the effect of tunnel construction and interaction between soil, tunnel, segment joints and ring joints was predicted. Results showed that with different use of segment joints give different longitudinal settlement. Hinge-nonlinear model together with separated rings model lead to the highest resemblance of surface settlement pattern to the field data when compare to tie model. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018.