The Effect of Dielectric Relaxation Processes on the Complex Dielectric Permittivity of Soils at Frequencies From 10 kHz to 8 GHz—Part II: Broadband Analysis

This article is the second in a series evaluating the effect of dielectric relaxation processes on the relatively effective complex dielectric permittivity (RCP) of soils. Part II is based on the results of experimental measurements in the frequency range 10 kHz to 8–20 GHz. The broadband dielectric spectrum model includes the high-frequency part as a model of the dielectric mixture and the relaxation part as the sum of three relaxation processes modeled by the Debye and Cole–Cole formulas. For modeling the high-frequency part of the spectrum, the Dobson and Mironov models were considered as possible options. As stated in Part I, the influence of relaxation processes on the imaginary part of the RCP extends up to frequencies of units of gigahertz. The increase in the imaginary part in these models was compensated by unrealistically high values of the specific electrical conductivity of free and bound water. We examined the correspondence of these models to experimental data at frequencies above 2–5 GHz, assuming that the conductivity of bound and free water is zero. The parameters of relaxation processes were found while solving the least-square optimization problem using the technique for determining the continuous distribution of relaxation times (DRTs). Found process parameters depend on the content of clay, organic carbon, and moisture of the samples. The more clay is in the soil, the greater the strength of these processes is. The influence of organic carbon with the conditions being equal consists in the reduction of the real and imaginary parts of RCP.