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Improving the calibration of dielectric TDR soil moisture determination taking into account the solid soil
Author(s) -
MALICKI M.A.,
PLAGGE R.,
ROTH C.H.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
european journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 1351-0754
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1996.tb01409.x
Subject(s) - porosity , dielectric , water content , reflectometry , bulk density , soil science , materials science , moisture , mineralogy , soil water , composite material , time domain , environmental science , geotechnical engineering , geology , optoelectronics , computer science , computer vision
Summary The influence of soiľs solid phase on the dielectric constant of the soil over a range of moisture contents has been studied. Samples of soil, soil‐like, and also other porous materials were analysed using Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) to determine the contribution of bulk density and porosity to the function that relates dielectric constant to water content. The study showed that bulk density, and thus also porosity, substantially affects the relation between dielectric constant and water content. Two equivalent, empirical, normalized conversion functions were found, one accounting for bulk density and the other for porosity. Each of them reduced the root mean square error of the dielectric TDR determinations of moisture to 0.03, regardless of the materialľs bulk density and porosity.