Australian standard 2870/1996, allocates different classifications to the various foundation types found in Australia, in particular.  It provides details and designs for reactive clay sites which can cause damage to buildings by swelling and shrinking under different moisture conditions.  Table 2.1 in the Australian Standard provides a description of the various soil classifications.

 

Site  Classification

One of the main factors that determines the type of concrete slab or the size of its is beams and reinforcement is the foundation that the building is to be built on.The word's footing and foundation are often confused. The footing is the part of the building, which transfers the load of the building to the ground and foundation is ground under the footing that will carry the load of the construction to the ground e.g., That is, the concrete slab or strip footing ,and the foundation is the ground under the footing that will carry the load of the building ,a foundation classification for a building site is generally determined by a geotechnical engineer who will usually drill a series of small holes, where the building is to be constructed 
 and classify the site in a written report, based on the core samples taken from the drilling of the site . Also taken  into account is the history of the site such as ,has a house or large tree recently been removed from the site,  how have similar footing types performed in the area in the past?

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Class                                                                                                 F oundation.
    A                                         most sand and rock sites, with little or no ground movement from water to changes
                                                                                                 
  S                                      slightly reactive clay sites, with only slight ground  movement from moisture changes

M                                     moderately reactive clay or silt sites which can experience moderate ground movement from  moisture  changes

H                             highly reactive clay sites, which can experience high ground movement from moisture changes.

E                       extremely reactive sites, which can experience extreme ground movement from moisture changes

P               site, which includes soft soils, such as soft clay or silt or loose sands ,landslips , mine subsistance, collapsing soils, soils subject to erosion, reactive sites subject to abnormal moisture conditions or sites which cannot be classified otherwise

Footing systems