Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Building Services Engineering Research and Technology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Phillipson, M.
Right arrow Articles by McLean, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Suitability of time domain reflectometry for monitoring moisture in building materials

MC Phillipson, BSc MSc

School of Built and Natural Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK, mph2{at}gcal.ac.uk

PH Baker, BSc Tech PhD

School of Built and Natural Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

M. Davies, BSc PhD

Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, London, UK

Z. Ye, BEng PhD

Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, London, UK

GH Galbraith, BSc MSc PhD

School of Built and Natural Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

RC McLean, BSc MPhil

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) has been used since the 1980s for measuring the moisture content of soils. The principle of TDR is based on measuring the reflection time of an electromagnetic signal sent down a set of waveguides that are inserted into the material. This paper reports research work examining the suitability of TDR for measuring the moisture content of building materials. Results suggest that TDR is an effective way of monitoring relative changes in the moisture content. Measurement of absolute moisture content is more complicated as it requires a calibration function, and the existing empirical relationships used in the soil sciences consistently overestimate the moisture content. A semi-empirical calibration relationship has been found to offer a better approach to absolute moisture content evaluation with TDR.

Practical application: This paper reports research work examining the suitability of TDR for application to the measurement of the moisture content of building materials. It finds that TDR can rapidly identify changes in the relative moisture content and may therefore be suited to monitoring the long-term moisture behaviour of a building material in situ. Application of the technique to the measurement of the absolute moisture content is more difficult; further work is needed to address the accuracy of absolute measurements.

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology, Vol. 29, No. 3, 261-272 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0143624408092423
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?