Stability analysis of caves in Gaziantep region

Limestone, which can be easily shaped and used as dimension stone at the house construction, cover extensive area of Gaziantep. In the past, people living in the region had opened many stone mines. Due to the increasing of residential areas at the city, these mines started to be used as caves and now they exist in the urban areas, which cause danger. Some people are living over those caves and some are working in the caves. The objective of this work is to investigate the collapse risk potential of existing caves in the city center. The caves were modeled using geometrical dimensions and geotechnical properties of the rock. Totally, 15 caves were analyzed using Plaxis finite element code V8, 2D program. A 300 kPa foundation load applied to roof of the cave. The results from the analysis showed that all the investigated caves are safe against failure under existing studied conditions. Key words: Stability Analysis, PLAXIS, Caves, Limestone, Factor of safety