This manual presents guidelines for calculation of the bearing capacity of soil under shallow and deep foundations supporting various types of structures and embankments. This information is generally applicable to foundation investigation and design conducted by Corps of Engineer agencies.

Principles for evaluating bearing capacity presented in this manual are applicable to numerous types of structures such as buildings and houses, towers and storage tanks, fills, embankments and dams. These guidelines may be helpful in determining soils that will lead to bearing capacity failure or excessive settlements for given foundations and loads.

This manual presents guidelines for calculation of vertical displacements and settlement of soil under shallow foundations (mats and footings) supporting various types of structures and under embankments.

This manual is intended as a guide for determining potential settlement and is not intended to replace the judgment of the design engineer on a particular project.

This manual establishes criteria and presents guidance for geotechnical investigations during the various stages of development for both civil and military projects. The manual is intended to be a guide for planning and conducting geotechnical investigations and not a textbook on engineering geology and soils exploration. Actual investigations, in all instances, must be tailored to the individual projects.

Geotechnical investigations are made to determine those geologic, seismologic, and soils conditions that affect the safety, cost effectiveness, design, and execution of a proposed engineering project. Because insufficient geotechnical investigations, faulty interpretation of results, or failure to portray results in a clearly understandable manner may contribute to costly construction changes, post-construction remedial work, and even failure of a structure, geotechnical investigations and subsequent reports are an essential part of all civil engineering and design projects.

This engineer manual provides guidance for analyzing the static stability of slopes of earth and rock-fill dams, slopes of other types of embankments, excavated slopes, and natural slopes in soil and soft rock. Methods for analysis of slope stability are described and are illustrated by examples in the appendixes. Criteria are presented for strength tests, analysis conditions, and factors of safety. The criteria in this EM are to be used with methods of stability analysis that satisfy all conditions of equilibrium. Methods that do not satisfy all conditions of equilibrium may involve significant inaccuracies and should be used only under the restricted conditions described herein.

This manual is intended to guide design and construction engineers, rather than to specify rigid procedures to be followed in connection with a particular project.

Appendix A contains a list of Government and non-Government references pertaining to this manual. Each reference is identified in the text by either the designated publication number or by author and date.