Frequency versus Time Domain Simulation of Non-

uniform TDR System

Xiong Yu
1
1
Case Western Reserve University, Department of Civil Engineering, 10900 Euclid Ave., Bingham 210, Cleveland,
OH, U.S.A., 216-368-6247
Abstract Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is
finding increased applications for Civil Engineering field
instrumentation. New applications are being identified
based on innovative design of TDR sensor system.
Numerical simulation plays an important role for guiding
and evaluation of these new designs. This paper discusses
the implementation of numerical simulation of frequency
domain and time domain models of non-uniform TDR
system. The frequency domain model is based on the
concept of impedance transform, which can easily
incorporate the dispersive characteristics of construction
materials. The time domain simulation is carried out by
FDTD method. Results of simulation based on both
frequency domain model and time domain FDTD method
are compared to identify the relative merits of these
numerical methods. The simulation of TDR system
responses establish the basis for aiding TDR sensor system
design and will be incorporated into the inversion
procedures to be investigated in the future.
I. INTRODUCTION
Originally developed in Electrical Engineering for
detection of discontinuities in the cable or electric
circuits, Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is finding
increased applications in other disciplines as well. In
Civil Engineering, it has been applied for evaluating
construction materials (such as compaction control of
soils [1] and indicating the chemical process in concrete
[2]), monitoring the deformation of structure and
infrastructure [3], and studying the contamination
transportation in soils [4]. Compared with other
techniques, TDR has the advantages such as safe, fast,
cost-effective, and easily automated. Characterization of
material properties is an important aspect among these
applications. Using a fast rising electrical pulse of
picoseconds provided by current TDR electronics, TDR
signal contains broad band information of material and
structural responses from a single measurement.
Innovative design of new TDR sensor as well as
development of cost-effective high performance TDR
system are important for discerning new TDR
applications. For both these purpose, computer aided
design is advantageous in that it provides realistic
prediction of system performance that is much faster and
cheaper than repeated hardware design.
In response to special field conditions, TDR sensor
systems designed for Civil Engineering field
instrumentation are generally not perfectly matched
system, although the assumption of a matched system is
frequently used. A model for unmatched TDR system
more realistically describes its behaviors.
This paper describes the implementation of numerical
simulations for the frequency domain model and time
domain model of unmatched (non-uniform) TDR system.
The frequency model is obtained by spectra-domain
solution of a cascaded non-uniform transmission line
equation. The time domain solution of TDR system
response is obtained by Finite Difference Time Domain
(FDTD) method. The results of frequency domain and
time domain methods are compared with actual
measurements on reference materials. The relative merits
of these two approaches are identified by comparison.
This work on the implementation of numerical
simulations will be further refined to aid TDR sensor
design and will be incorporated in the process of
inversion analysis for material and structure behaviors.
II. BACKGROUND
Time Domain Reflectometry is finding increased
applications in Civil Engineering. Characterization of
material behaviors and structure responses are important
topics for these applications. The successful introduction
of TDR for construction materials is largely attributed to
the pioneering work by Topp et al. [5], which designed a
robust TDR sensor and established a universal
equation between TDR measured apparent dielectric
constant and volumetric water content. From this, the
water content can be determined from TDR measured
dielectric constant. The high sensitivity of TDR to water
content is attributed to the much larger dielectric constant
of water (around 81) than those of air (around 1) or soil
solids (around 3 to 5). Another important progress in this
aspect is made by Dalton et al. [6], who developed an
approach to obtain soil electrical conductivity from TDR
signal. The information of electrical conductivity has
been explored for estimation of pore fluid characteristics
and soil salinity, which are critical information for
disciplines such as agricultural and environmental
engineering.
The use of TDR for material characterization works by
generating a small-magnitude electromagnetic field
excitation and measures the material responses. Dipoles
(originated from the molecular geometry to charges of
the particles) oscillate under the excitation. The overall
response of the material is dependent on the excitation
frequencies and is described by the dielectric spectra.
Certain ions drift freely under the electrical field and the
macroscopic phenomena correspond to electrical
conductivity.
Figure 1 shows the schema of a field TDR system. It
consists of TDR electronics, collection cable, conversion
head, and measurement probe. There are two distinctive
reflections while electrical pulse generated by TDR
electronics travels through soil specimen under test due
to mismatch in electrical impedance. The first reflection
takes place at the air/soil interface, since soil generally
has distinctive dielectric properties compared with air.
The second reflection takes place at the end of the
measurement probe due to the boundary conditions. A
typical TDR signal measured in soil is shown in Fig. 1.
The information of dielectric constant and electrical
conductivity can be obtained simultaneously from the
TDR signal.
A distinctive characteristics of Civil Engineering
construction materials is that they generally cover a wide
distribution of particle sizes. It is mandatory for TDR
sensor to provide sufficient sampling volume to obtain
accurate measurements (ASTM D2216). This
consequently exerts constraints on the design of TDR
sensor and measurement system. Most frequently it is
very hard to design a totally matched TDR sensor that
simultaneously meets the requirements for
instrumentation on soils. Most of the TDR systems for
Civil Engineering field instrumentation are, strictly
speaking, un-matched system. This means reflections
will take place beside at the desired locations (the air/soil
interface and at the end of the probe). This can be seen
from the delicate changes in the details of the TDR
signal (Fig. 1). The responses of these system are more
accurately described by non-uniform transmission line
model. The model of TDR system for material or
structure applications is composed of cascaded uniform
sections. Solution of these models can be achieved in
either the time-domain or the frequency-domain.
III. THEORETICAL BASIS
A. Frequency Domain Model for Non-uniform TDR
System
Under the assumption of TEM mode, the frequency
domain model for the electromagnetic wave propagation
in non-uniform TDR system is obtained by spectra-
domain representation of transmission line equation [7].
To analyze a cascaded transmission line model for
TDR system, where the line is divided into different
sections, each of which has uniform dielectric and
electrical properties, a useful concept is impedance
transform. Impedance transform is used to obtain the
lumped equivalent complex resistance. In the impedance
transform, the equivalent impedance at a location is
obtained from the load impedance and the characteristic
impedance of the connection lines in a bottom-up
fashion. The process continues to the connection point
where the voltage representing TDR signal is sampled by
the TDR electronics (Eq. 1 and Fig. 2).

( )
( )
n n L n c
n n n c L
n c n in
L n in
l Z Z
l Z Z
Z z Z
Z z Z

tanh
tanh
) (
) (
,
,
, 1
+
+
=
=

(1)
In Eq.(1),
n
is the propagation constant which is
decided by the material properties and thus frequency
dependent material behaviors can be incorporated, l
n
is
the length of the section.
By using impedance transform, the analysis of TDR
system is similar to that of a static circuit, albeit the
quantities are represented as complex numbers in the
frequency domain. The predicted sampling voltage of
the TDR signal can be obtained from the final equivalent
circuit on the right side of Fig. 2 as:
s
in s
in
V
Z Z
Z
V
) 0 (
) 0 (
) 0 (
+
=
(2)
In Eq. (1) the term Vs is the frequency domain
representation of source voltage. Z
s
is the internal
impedance of the TDR electronics, which is around 50
ohms. The voltage, V(0), in Eq. (2), represents the
Fig. 1. Up: Schematic plot of TDR measurement system;
Below: Typical TDR signal and information utilized
-1.25
-0.75
-0.25
0.25
0.75
1.25
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Scaled Distance (m)
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K
Apparent Length, L
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Scaled Distance (m)
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Scaled Distance (m)
R
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(
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Scaled Distance (m)
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Apparent Length, L
a
V
Vs/2
L
z
0
Z
L
(l
n
) Z
L
(l
n-1
)
s
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(0)
s
Zs
V
0
s
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(l
n-1
)
L
z
0
z
0
Z
L
(l
n
) Z
L
(l
n-1
)
s
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(l
n
) Z
L
(l
n-1
) Z
L
(l
n
) Z
L
(l
n-1
)
s
Zs
V
0
sss
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(0)
s
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(0)
s
Zs
Z
L
(0) Z
L
(0)
sss
Zs
V
0
s
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(l
n-1
)
s
Zs
V
0
sss
Zs
V
0
Z
L
(l
n-1
) Z
L
(l
n-1
)
Simplification of
the equivalent
circuit for the non-
uniform
transmission line
model for TDR
system in bottom-
up fashion
Front Panel, Cable,, Measurement Probe
Fig. 2 Equivalent circuit model for spectral solution
of non-uniform transmission line
sampled voltage by TDR in the frequency domain, which
can be transformed into a time domain TDR signal by
inverse FFT.
B. Time Domain Solutions of Non-Uniform TDR
System
The time domain description of cascaded non-uniform
TDR system is by the Telegraph equation[7], which can
be solved using FDTD method [8-9].
IV. NUMERICAL IMPLEMENTATION AND COMPARISONS
The code of the frequency domain model for non-
uniform TDR system has been developed. The
procedures for the prediction of system responses
include: a) obtain the spectrum of input signal by FFT; b)
obtain the lumped equivalent impedance at the input end
from Eq. (1). c) determine the spectrum of sampled
voltage by Eq. (2). d) obtain the time domain responses
of the TDR system by inverse FFT. In the second step,
the electrical characteristics (impedance) of the
components in the transmission path (such as cable,
connector, and probe) are obtained from its standard
specifications, geometry or calibration test.
The predicted responses of the TDR system on know
liquid (water) versus those of actual measured signals are
shown in Fig. 3. The dielectric behavior of water is
described by Debyes model with the parameters from
literature. From the figure it can be seen that the
frequency domain model closely describes the actual
measured signals.
Fig. 3. Measured and simulated signals for TDR
measurement in de-ionized water
The impedance transform makes it easy to implement a
layer peeling procedure, which removes unmatched
sections in the TDR system. Figure 4 shows comparison
of original measured signal in soil versus those where the
components such as cable, connector are removed. A
calibration process is also incorporated to remove the
accumulation of system error. This resulted in a much
cleaner peeled signal (Fig. 4).
The scheme of finite difference time domain (FDTD)
for non-uniform TDR system is currently being
implemented. The results of this approach will be
compared with that of frequency domain method. The
comparison will emphasis on the speed of computation
and the relative merits for incorporated into inversion
procedure.
V. CONCLUSION
Accurate simulation of TDR system responses
provides important guidance for design of new TDR
sensor system as well as for inversion analysis for
material or structure behaviors. This work introduces the
development of numerical simulation of non-uniform
TDR system based on cascaded non-uniform
transmission line model. Further work on the
implementation of FDTD method and comparison of
relative advantages will be continued and reported.
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Fig. 4. A TDR signal for soil and the peeled signal
before and after calibration