Rich, it might also help to think of it as the engineer is using the 3' depth the calculate the weight of the column of water above the pad resisting the buoyant force.
I am generating the factored loads per ASCE 7-10 for design of simple spread foundations. Is it improper to design the foundations ignoring uplift on the footing and maximizing the dead load and the conversely just considering uplift and using the larger foundation size from the two different...
