RH sensor

Cenlasoft

Hello,
I have the relative humidity sensor that Parallax sells. I was wondering if it would be possible to use it to measure moisture in masonary. My research shows that most masonary moisture sensors use capacitance change just like the RH sensor does. I want to measure moisture content in masonary walls nondestructivily using the prop and then logging the data. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This is for my students at a university.
Thanks,
Curtis

Miner_with_a_PIC

Curtis that all depends on the moisture flux from the surface of the masonry block vs actual moisture content for some given temperature. The higher the moisture content the faster a closed environment (a hermetically sealed chamber, size of coffee cup?) above the surface of the wall will come to 100% RH. Characterization with controls of known moisture content...various masonry types should studied and temperature effects if temperature cannot be controlled. If there is a strong correlation between moisture content and moisture flux which varies little with masonry type then what you are suggesting seems feasible. I suspect masonry type will have a strong effect due to its surface roughness (changes surface area) and its bulk porosity. This topic really is outside the scope of this forum but its great to hear you are innovating and getting the students involved; really an awesome project idea!