INCLUSION OF SCATTERING LOSSES IN THE MODELS OF THE EFFECTIVE PERMITTIVITY OF DIELECTRIC MIXTURES AND APPLICATIONS TO WET SNOW

Several dielectric models have been previously proposed to explain the permittivity of mixtures from the known dielectric constant and volum e fractions of the constituents. The materials may be lossy and this l eads to a complex effective permittivity for the mixture where the ima ginary part stands for the absorption losses of the mixture. However, the scattering losses are not incorporated in the effective permittivi ty. The result is therefore confined to a low-frequency limit. In this paper an attempt is made to incorporate the scattering losses in the effective permittivity of the medium consisting of the discrete scatte rers immersed in a host material. The inclusions are assumed to be sph erical. The results are applicable to general multiphase mixtures, and the scattering spheres of the different phases may have size distribu tion. The results are applied to calculating the complex effective per mittivity of wet snow. The prediction of the model seems to agree with the experimental data if the scattering losses and the distribution o f liquid water in the pore space have been taken into account.