The relationship between electrical capacitance-based dielectric constant and soil water content

Based on batch experiments conducted on soil samples in the laboratory, the relationship between dielectric constant and water content based on electrical capacitance measurement was investigated. Factors that may affect the relationship, such as measurement frequency, electrode array methods, and soil particle sizes, were analyzed. A model fitting the relationship between dielectric constant and water content was proposed. The results clearly indicate that even with the use of rod-like sensors, the measured electrical capacitance with 1 kHz frequency can be used to construct a good relationship between dielectric constant and water content. Although the electrode array methods (parallel or non-parallel electrode pair) and soil particle sizes do affect the obtained absolute values of dielectric constant to some extent, the relationship between dielectric constant and water content remains unchanged. A clear characteristic is the increase reduction in the dielectric constant at near saturation condition, and the low increase speed when water content is small. The proposed modified VG model incorporated this characteristic into it and fitted the data better than the reported models. These results suggest that the electrical capacitance-based dielectric constant measurement can be extensively used and would be useful, especially in the situations where parallel sensor requirement is difficult to satisfy.

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