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A profiling TDR probe for water content and electrical conductivity measurements of soils

På svenska

Author

Summary, in English

Measurements of water content profiles are of great interest in hydrology and soil science. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is a well-established method for water content measurements; however, most TDR probe designs are suitable for measurements in only a small soil volume. In this article, a 1-m long TDR profiling probe with five measurement sections is described. Unlike most other previous profiling probes, our probe allows for both dielectric permittivity (e) and electrical conductivity (sa) measurements. The accuracy of the e and sa measurements was excellent; the precision of the measurements was, however, significantly poorer than with a 0.20-m long standard three rod TDR probe. The new probe was installed in a field and successfully measured water content profiles during the growing season of 2009. During an infiltration experiment it was shown that because of its geometry, the profiling probe over-estimated the wetting-front velocity. At a 0.10-m depth, the over-estimation was almost 30%. The over-estimate will be less significant at greater depths.

Publishing year

2010

Language

English

Pages

1106-1112

Publication/Series

European Journal of Soil Science

Volume

61

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Water Engineering

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1365-2389