scope:

Information contained in this UFC is directed toward construction usually undertaken on military reservations, although it is sufficiently general to permit its use on a wide variety of construction projects. Some of the references are directed toward highway construction, but are also general enough to be applied to any construction foundation items. Effort has been made to refer the user to as many nongovernment standards as possible, when they appear to cover the topics as well as the former manuals or provide new and innovative methods for the design of foundations on soil and rock. Where there are no non-government criteria or insufficient coverage of the topic in the non-government criteria, the existing government criteria from either the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or Naval Facilities Engineering Command publications are either referenced or have been inserted totally in the document.

PURPOSE. This UFC presents guidance for selecting and designing foundations for buildings and facilities of all types and associated features for buildings such as earth embankments and slopes, retaining structures, and machinery foundations. Foundations for hydraulic structures are not included; however, foundations design methods for piers, wharves and waterfront structures are covered. Foundation design differs considerably from design of other elements of a structure because of the interaction between the structure and the supporting medium (soil and rock). The soil and rock medium are highly variable as compared to steel and concrete products above the soil; therefore, much attention is given to presenting subsurface investigation methods to better determine the properties of the soil and rock. The seismic aspects of foundation design are presented in detail.