Damage simulations of the historic masonry aqueduct at Sümela monastery under rockfall and post-disaster landscape management

This study presents a numerical damage simulation of a historical masonry aqueduct at the Sümela Monastery (Virgin Mary) under rockfall. This monastery site has a sharp topography and is exposed to significant rockfall risk. In recent years, local authorities have implemented safety applications, including controlled blasting, anchoring, and cleaning to identify the risky blocks and eliminate rockfall risks. Rockfall risk analyses were conducted considering the topographic features of the site to simulate damage caused by natural rockfalls and those induced by the safety measures employed at the site. Numerical impact analyses were conducted to investigate the resulting damage on the historical aqueduct after determining rockfall risks. In these analyses, four different rock volumes were dropped at the midpoint of each arch. The results of the impact analyses indicated that low-volume rocks (e.g., 0.06–0.09 m3) induced localized surface damage, whereas rocks with larger volumes (2.5–5.0 m3) caused more extensive global failure patterns. The results clearly demonstrate the destructive effects of rockfall on the structure. Finally, this study discusses post-disaster landscape planning for a site that receives thousands of visitors annually. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd