In geotechnical or soils engineering, the at-rest condition refers to a stress state where a soil or clay deposit is subject to three-dimensional (mutually perpendicular) stresses such that the soil/clay body only deforms vertically (i.e., along the z axis) but not laterally (i.e., along x and y axes). The ideal at-rest condition exists in a soil unit beneath a level, infinite-sized ground surface. In engineering practice, sites with level ground surface and the horizontal dimensions much greater than the vertical dimension (e.g., lake bed sediments with a horizontal surface), can be treated as an at-rest condition. For a component of soil or clay at the at-rest condition, the strains in the x and y directions are zero, and hence the vertical strain is the same as the volumetric strain (= change in volume divided by the original volume). Understanding the at-rest condition is essential for the design of structures situated on or in soil or clay.
Syn., K0 condition.