Cave Stability and Sustainable Development: A Case Study at KEK Look Tong Cave, Perak

  • Ailie Sofyiana Serasa, Goh Thian Lai, Nur Amanina Mazlan

Abstract

The beauty of karst terrains of limestone caves attracts many tourists due to its unique architecture. In Malaysia, some of the caves have been converted into religion caverns.  However there is no systematic guideline to evaluate the stability and sustainability of the cave and cave wall. This research paper presents a systematic approach for the assessment of limestone cave stability using Q system and Slope Mass Rating (SMR) at Kek Look Tong, Perak. Based on the assessment of Slope Mass Rating (SMR), the entire cave walls were classified from class II to IV. The cave walls without potential failure were classified into class II. 10 out of 33 cave walls were identified to have potential wedge and planar failure with the SMR score from 36 to 78.5. The cave wall of GR2-1 and GR2-2 were classified as class II to III (stable to partially stable) and class II (stable) respectively. The cave wall of GR4-2, GR4-6, GR4-8 and GR4-9 were classified as class II (stable). The cave wall GR4-4 was classified as class III (partially stable). Cave wall of GR4-1 was classified as class IV (unstable).  The Q- value for both section A and Section B of the cave were 4. The stability assessment based on relationship between Q- value and the cave width shows that all sections of the cave were categorized into the support field zones according to the guidelines for the Norwegian Tunnelling Method.

Published
2020-01-24
How to Cite
Nur Amanina Mazlan, A. S. S. G. T. L. (2020). Cave Stability and Sustainable Development: A Case Study at KEK Look Tong Cave, Perak. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(1), 1435- 1454. Retrieved from http://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/3708
Section
Articles