Distributed method for measuring moisture content of soils based on C-DTS

Based on the carbon-fiber-heating-cable distributed temperature sensing system (C-DTS), a new distributed method for measuring the moisture content of soils is proposed. The temperature of soil-buried-cable is measured by C-DTS in this method. The moisture content of soils is determined by the relationship between the temperature characteristic value (T_t) and the moisture content. T_t is defined, and it is proved that there is a linear relationship between the moisture content and T_t. The relevant parameters can be determined by calibration experiment. The experimental results show that the moisture content of soils can be measured effectively through artificial heating carbon-fiber-cable, and the usage of DTS provides distributed measurement. The accuracy of this method is related to the section of T_t. The success of the proposed method provides a very advanced distributed approach for measuring the moisture content of soils. Further improvement and popularization are required.