Prof. D. N. Singh

SUSHA LEKSHMI S.U.

Ph. D.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, India sushalekshmi.su@gmail.com

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE METHODOLOGIES EMPLOYED FOR DETERMINING SOIL MOISTURE CONTENT

Though, earlier researchers have employed various techniques of moisture content determination of soils, both in laboratory and in-situ conditions, dielectric techniques (viz., Time Domain Reflectometry and capacitance techniques) have gained much more popularity, in the recent time. This is mainly due to revolutionary developments in the field of electronics and data communication systems which facilitates instantaneous and non-invasive measurement of the soil moisture content. However, suitability and relative performance of these techniques, for soils of entirely different characteristics, still remains a point of debate. With this in view, efforts have been made to address such issues based on a critical synthesis of the results obtained by resorting to various techniques on soils of entirely different physical, chemical and mineralogical characteristics. This study also demonstrates the importance of electrical and magnetic characteristics of the soils for determining soil moisture content successfully.