Real-Time Wireless Moisture Sensing in Concrete Using Interdigitated Stick-on Sensors

• Main Authors: Rashed H. Bhuiyan, Md. Nazmul Alam, Juan M. Caicedo, Mohammod Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IFSA Publishing, S.L. 2015-12-01
• Series: Sensors & Transducers
• Subjects: Wireless sensing; Interdigitated sensor; Real-time monitoring; Concrete moisture.
• Online Access: http://www.sensorsportal.com/HTML/DIGEST/december_2015/Vol_195/P_2773.pdf

The analyses, design, and performance of an interdigitated moisture sensor are presented. The analytical results clearly delineate the scope of the design in terms of the expected electric field penetration depth and interelectrode capacitance when the sensor is placed on top of a Material Under Test (MUT) for a simple two electrode sensor. A multielectrode circular sensor was fabricated, instrumented, and used to measure concrete moisture content. Real-time moisture measurement results in both fresh concrete (when curing) and dry concrete (when moisture intrusion is occurring) are presented in a wireless system level measurement scenario where the measured results are relayed to a distant receiver using a wireless transmitter.