Determination of Moisture Content in Ceramic Brick Walls Using Ground Penetration Radar

The moisture content in ceramic masonry plays an important role in their performance and durability, also serviceability is severely affected by moisture. The presence of moisture represents one of the major issues associated with structures fabricated with ceramic masonry. The intrinsic characteristic of the material along with the age of the structure plays an important role in the amount of moisture absorbed by the walls. Traditional methods for determining the moisture content of in-situ masonry walls are many times destructive or semi-destructive and provide limited information. In this study, ground penetrating radar is used as a non-destructive technique for measuring the moisture content in ceramic masonry walls. Control samples were used as calibration in the laboratory and field measurements were performed to determine the moisture content of the ceramic walls. The developed methodology was applied to real size ceramic walls, were in-situ measurements showed areas with different moisture levels. The methodology developed showed to be fast and easy to use in the field for measuring the moisture content of ceramic brick walls.