Abstract
The dielectric properties of soil have been shown to be a good indicator of moisture, contamination, and mineralogy and have been studied in order to gain a better insight into macroscopic soil behavior. Calibration factors for the measurement of real relative permittivity and effective conductivity are discussed and measured in this study. Based on the use of calibration factors, this article presents a convenient approach of dielectric measurement of soil-electrolyte mixtures in an oedometer-like cell using electromagnetic waves at a frequency range of 400 kHz–20 MHz to study the behavior of the mixtures. The effects of volumetric water content, chemical composition, anisotropy, and soil type are assessed based on the proposed measurement approach and the results are discussed.