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Construction Engineering & Management

A guide to Civil Engineering resources in the area of Construction Engineering & Management, including research papers, articles, data, material properties, codes, standards, patents, & product information.

Finding Codes and Standards

Standards are formally published documents that establish consistent technical requirements for products, practices, methods, or operations, thereby ensuring uniformity, quality, and safety. By themselves, standards are not legally enforceable in most cases. When standards are incorporated into a legally enforceable contract, or enacted into a law or regulation by government, they are generally referred to as codes.

Alphabetical Listing of Codes & Standards Databases

  • ASCE Database - American Society of Civil Engineers
    • Free to search. Full-text content likely to be paywalled or restricted to Illinois Tech
    Provides access to journal articles published by the ASCE from 1990 through the present. The database also provides access to standards and judicial proceedings relevant to the field of civil engineering.
  • ASSIST-Quick Search
    • Free or Open Access Resource. Unrestricted public access.
    ASSIST-Quick Search is a public website that lets users search for defense and federal specifications and standards, military handbooks, commercial item descriptions, data item descriptions, MS detail drawings, Qualified Product Lists (QPLs), and related technical documents prepared in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Defense Standardization Program (DSP). In most cases, users may download documents that have been cleared for public release.
  • ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials
    • Free to search. Full-text content likely to be paywalled or restricted to Illinois Tech
    ASTM is one of the worlds leading developers of engineering, industrial, and product safety standards.
    NOTE: Illinois Tech does NOT have a subscription to this database & therefore no downloads are available. However, students may join ASTM for FREE and in that way gain access to ASTM standards and other materials. Just follow the "Get Involved" link on ASTM's website.
    For more standards access, the library provides a print copy of the complete ASTM standards. Also, any ASTM standards referenced by the international building code can be accessed in the MADCAD database.
  • Chicago Building Code
    • Free or Open Access Resource. Unrestricted public access.
    Access building codes and zoning info for the city of Chicago
  • Ethics Code Collection
    • Free or Open Access Resource. Unrestricted public access.
    The Ethics Codes Collection is the largest online repository of ethics codes and guidelines in the world. With over 2500 individual codes and guidelines from over 1500 organizations around the world, including current and historical codes dating to 1887, it is maintained by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at Illinois Institute of Technology.
  • MADCAD
    • Access restricted to Illinois Tech students, faculty, & staff
    MADCAD is a reference database, containing building codes, knowledge-based design solutions, and guidelines to meet the codes. MADCAD will provide you access to cross-referenced collections of building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, fire, and maintenance codes.
  • UpCodes
    • Mostly free or Open Access. Some content may be paywalled or restricted to Illinois Tech
    UpCodes provides a free platform to access building codes for all 50 states as well as the international codes. The free version allows access to all codes. Searching and advanced functionality is limited to an individual paid subscription.
  • USACE - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
    • Free or Open Access Resource. Unrestricted public access.
    This database is the official repository for official U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Regulations (ERs), Engineering Circulars (ECs), Engineering Manuals (EMs) and other official public documents originating from Headquarters USACE.