Within shield tunnels subjected to internal water pressure, the significant reduction of axial force at the joint position leads to an increase in bolt load. The hand holes in the single-layer segmental linings bearing inner water pressure need to be filled by concrete, but the influence of concrete-filled hand hole on the joint performance has not been revealed. Consequently, the investigation focused on the structural optimization approach for segmental joints with high stiffness, and the characteristics of the joints' bearing capacity and their failure modes following the filling of hand holes were examined. The findings suggest that by setting the height of the joint panel sidewall to the same height as the hand hole, and adjusting the anchor bars behind the hand hole, the damage range of the concrete on both sides of the hand hole can be effectively decreased. The concrete filled in joint hand holes has some restriction to the concrete damage around the hand holes, thus the opening and rotational stiffness of the high-stiffness segmental joint with concrete-filled hand holes can be further reduced and increased, respectively.