An efficient method for water content estimation of building materials from spectral reflectance

We propose a nondestructive methodology to accurately estimate the water content of building materials from spectral reflectance in the shortwave infrared. The water content of a wet sample is estimated from the relative position of its reflectance spectrum on the curve between 2 reference spectra with known water content. By design, the approach is invariant to variations in illumination and acquisition conditions. Validation is done on datasets of clay powders and bricks. The experimental results provide confirmation of the effectiveness of the proposed method.