Effect of surface load on the stability of shallow cavities in Budapest, Hungary

There are several underground cavities cut into porous limestone around Budapest. Until the past years, the area above the cellars was not used for a construction site. But since there is a lack of development sites in this area of Budapest, it started to use the areas above these underground cavities. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a detailed investigation of the cellar stability before the construction activities. This paper introduces the study of a site above cellars, which is planned to build. The host rock properties of the cellars were tested under laboratory conditions, and the different layers were investigated through the ventilation shafts. The stability analysis was done with 2D finite element code the RocScience RS2 software. The result was evaluated for different loading conditions; furthermore, the effect of the joints was also analysed.