Abstract: Settlement deformation of surface buildings would occur because of coal mining inevitably，it would cause the deformation failure of cave dwelling if vertical settlement beyond the prescribed scope.In order to analyze the effects of goaf on the stability of surficial cave dwelling，the settlement regularities and stress characteristics of the cave dwellings was studied by FLAC^3D.It shows that the settlement under the influence of mined-out area decreases from dome to bottom of cave.Cave settlement decreases as the increase of the mining thickness and face advance and enlarges as the mining depth.The maximum settlement occurred when the cave was located above the mined-out area，and the most obvious asymmetry settlement can be observed when the cave was located above the goaf area boundary.The results can provide reference for the study about the effects of buildings on the goaf surface.