On-Site Measurement of Soil Water Content by a New Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) Technique

Abstract

The water content of soils and other porous materials is one of the most important values in hydrology, civil engineering, and agriculture. But despite its importance, there is a lack in rapid, reliable and robust moisture meters for on-site analysis of soil water content. Standard methods such as oven-drying are very time consuming and destructive, neutron moderation or gamma reduction make use of hazardous radioactive sources, and resistance methods or tensiometry-techniques are either not accurate enough, have a limited application range or the need for soil specific calibration and intensive maintenance work.