Abstract:This article presented a method for direct measurement of soil moisture, which was equivalent to the conventional oven-dry method. Under assumed soil particle density, soil samples for measurement were placed into a container of known volume, and then the container was filled with water to saturated. The weights before and after saturation of the soil sample, the assumed soil particle density and water density, were used to estimate the original soil moisture content. The measurement method, procedures as well as the computational method and procedures were detailed. Four soils were used for the validation experiments, under five initial soil water contents 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%. The measured results were compared with those measured by the oven-dry method. The data showed that the measured moisture contents by the new method were about 2.4%~2.7% higher than those by the traditional method after oven-dry for 8 h. Extended oven-dry for 12 to 48 h produced 1%~3% higher water content than dried for 8 h. The proposed method performs better than the conventional method. The results indicate the feasibility of the new method.