Capacitance Measurement of Building Materials

Abstract

This paper presents the basic principles of nondestructive indirect moisture measurement of masonry from dielectric property analysis. For the selected parallel plate method, three methods that have been experimentally tested are presented. The aim of the work is to provide a comprehensive body of theoretical information complemented by an unambiguous procedure supported by experiments for the measurement of permittivity of building materials at different humidities and temperatures, which will serve as a basis for subsequent experimental acquisition of the moisture and temperature dependence of permittivity for selected building materials. The purpose of obtaining these characteristics is to develop and calibrate a low-cost embedded prototype system for continuous moisture measurement of building materials.