The Measurement of the Dielectric Constant of Three Different Shapes of Concrete Blocks

To optimize the effectiveness of the rehabilitation of underground utilities, taking in consideration limitation of available resources, there is a need for a cost effective and efficient sensing systems capable of providing effective, in real time and in situ, measurement of infrastructural characteristics. To carry out accurate non-destructive condition assessment of buried and above ground infrastructure such as sewers, bridges, pavements and dams, advanced ultrawideband (UWB) based radar was developed at Louisiana Tech University (LTU). One of the major issues in designing the FCC compliant UWB radar was the contribution of the pipe wall, presence of complex soil types and moderate-to-high moisture levels on penetration depth of the electromagnetic (EM) energy. The electrical properties of the materials involved in designing the UWB radar exhibit a significant variation as a result of the moisture content, mineral content, bulk density, temperature and frequency of the electromagnetic signal propagating through it. In this paper, the dielectric constant of concrete blocks is measured over a microwave frequency range from 1 Ghz to 18 Ghz including the effects of moisture and chloride content. A high performance software package called MU-EPSLN was used for the calculations. Data reduction routines to calculate the complex permeability and permittivity of materials as well as other parameters are also provided. The results obtained in this work will be used to improve the accuracy of the numerical simulations and the performances of the UWB radar system.