Abstract: When using grid connected walls in water transportation engineering, due to the change of the structural stress mode, the tensile effect may appear in the joint area. However, the systematic research on the tensile performance of cross steel plate joint is still relatively scarce. This article takes the Fuchi Ship Lock as the engineering background and conducts a 1:3 scale scaled model test to analyze in detail the tensile bearing capacity and failure mechanism of the single and double cross joints of the grid connected wall. The test results show that during the tensile process, the strain of the steel plate and reinforcement in the single and double cross steel plate joint specimens increases with the increase of load, and no yielding phenomenon occurs when the specimens fail. In addition, the two specimens showed the same trend of crack development during tensile failure, with cracks distributed in a "several" shape around the joint. The ultimate tensile capacity of single and double cross steel plate joint specimens are 100kN and 162kN respectively. Based on the force mechanism, a calculation method for the ultimate tensile bearing capacity of cross steel plate joints in grid connected walls is proposed, and the comparison error between the calculation results and the experimental results is less than 5%. The research results can provide a certain reference basis for the design of cross steel plate joints, and help to optimize the design and improve the engineering safety.