ABSTRACT
The site of the Ishigaki New Airport had several karstic caves, which crosses the runway at several locations. The bats in these caves were claimed to be precious species, the Okinawa Prefectural Government decided to construct the reinforced protection arch structures above the caves against their possible collapses. The authors carried out a series of computations using 2D and 3D numerical methods to check the static and dynamic stability assessment of natural underground openings with its protection arch structure. In this article, the authors would present the outcomes of the numerical studies and discuss their implications.
