Simulation of heat transfer performance using middle-deep coaxial borehole heat exchangers by FEFLOW

Due to its large heat transfer area and stable thermal performance,the middledeep coaxial borehole heat exchanger(CBHE)has become one of the emerging technologies to extract geothermal energy.In this paper,a numerical modeling on a three-dimensional unsteady heat transfer model of a CBHE was conducted by using software FEFLOW,in which the model simulation was compared with the other studies and was validated with experimental data.On this basis,a further simulation was done in respect of assessing the influencing factors of thermal extraction performance and thermal influence radius of the CBHE.The results show that the outlet temperature of the heat exchanger decreases rapidly at the initial stage,and then tended to be stable;and the thermal influence radius increases with the increase of borehole depth.The heat extraction rate of the borehole increases linearly with the geothermal gradient.Rock heat capacity has limited impact on the heat extraction rate,but has a great influence on the thermal influence radius of the CBHE.When there is groundwater flow in the reservoir,the increase of groundwater velocity will result in the rise of both outlet temperature and heat extraction rate.The heat affected zone extends along with the groundwater flow direction;and its influence radius is increasing along with flow velocity.In addition,the material of the inner pipe has a significant effect on the heat loss in the pipe,so it is recommended that the material with low thermal conductivity should be used if possible.

Thermal performance analysis of borehole size effect on geothermal heat exchanger

Thermal performance was the most important factor in the development of borehole heat exchanger utilizing geothermal energy. The thermal performance was affected by many different design parameters, such as configuration type and borehole size of geothermal heat exchanger. These eventually determined the operation and cost efficiency of the geothermal heat exchanger system. The main purpose of this work was to assess the thermal performance of geother^nal heat exchanger with variation of borehole sizes and numbers of U-tubes inside a borehole. For this, a thermal response test rig was established with line-source theory. The thermal response test was performed with in-line variable input heat source. Effective thermal conductivity and thermal resistance were obtained from the measured data. From the measurement, the effective thermal conductivity is found to have similar values for two- pair type （4 U-tubes） and three-pair type （6 U-tubes） borehole heat exchanger systems indicating similar heat transfer ability. Meanwhile, the thermal resistance shows lower value for the three-pair type compared to the two-pair type. Measured data based resistance have lower value compared to computed result from design programs. Overall comparison finds better thermal performance for the three-pair type, however, fluctuating temperature variation indicates complex flow behavior inside the borehole and requires further study on flow characteristics.

Advances in ground heat exchangers for space heating and cooling:Review and perspectives

As a renewable energy source,geothermal energy has been widely used to provide space heating and cooling for buildings.The thermal performance of ground heat exchanger(GHE)is significant for the operating efficiency of the ground source heat pump(GSHP)systems.This paper presents a comprehensive review of developments and advances of three kinds of GHE,including vertical borehole GHE(VBGHE),Pile GHE(PGHE),and deep borehole GHE(DBGHE)which are currently popular in larger GSHP systems.Firstly,analytical models proposed to ana-lyze heat transfer process of VBGHE with different geological conditions are summarized,such as homogenous or heterogeneous ground,with or without groundwater advection.Numerical and short-time step models and measures to improve GHE thermal performance are also reviewed.Secondly,a summary of research advances in PGHE is provided,which includes the heat transfer models of PGHE,the effects of geometric structure,oper-ation modes,pile spacing,use of phase change material(PCM),thermal properties of PCM,thermo-mechanical behavior and/or thermal performance of PGHE.The effects of groundwater flow direction and velocity on PGHE are also summarized in brief.Lastly,models of three kinds of DBGHEs,i.e.,deep coaxial GHE(DCGHE),deep U-bend GHE(DUGHE)and super-long gravity heat pipe(SLGHP),are reviewed.The physical bases of the dif-ferent analytical models are elaborated and also their advantages and disadvantages are described.Advances in numerical modelling and improving numerical model calculation speed of DCBHE,DCBHE array,and DUBHE are summarized.The review provides a meaningful reference for the further study of GHEs.

Energy saving analysis of a hybrid ground-coupled heat pump project

A hybrid ground-coupled heat pump（HGCHP）project in Nanjing,China is chosen to analyze the building energy-consumption properties in terms of different control strategies,building envelope and the terminal air-conditioning system.The HGCHP uses a supplemental heat rejecter to dissipate extra thermal energy to guarantee underground soil heat balance.The software EnergyPlus is employed to simulate the project and design the heat flow of the cooling tower and the borehole heat exchanger（BHE）.Then two feasible control strategies for the cooling tower and the borehole heat exchanger are proposed.The energy-saving potential of the building envelope is analyzed in terms of the surface color of the wall/roof.With the same terminal system,it is found that in the cooling season the heat flow of the insulated building with black wall/roof is 1.2 times more than that with white wall/roof.With the same insulated building and gray wall/roof,it is concluded that the heat pump units for a primary air fan-coil system show an annual energy consumption increase of 44.7 GJ compared with a radiant floor system.

Performance Characteristics of Geothermal Single Well for Building Heating

The single well geothermal heating(SWGH)technology has attracted extensive attention.To enhance heat extraction from SWGH,a mathematical model describing heat transfer is set up,and the key influence factor and heat transfer enhancement method are discussed by thermal resistance analysis.The numerical results show that the thermal resistance of rock is far greater than that of well wall and fluid.So,reducing rock thermal resistance is the most effective method for enhancing the heat extraction power.For geothermal well planning to drill:rock thermal resistance can be reduced by increasing well diameter and rock thermal conductivity;the temperature difference between liquid and rock can be raised by increasing well depth.For already existing geothermal well:an insulator with thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/(mK)is sufficient to preserve fluid enthalpy;a decrease in injection water temperature causes the increase of heat extraction power from geothermal well and heat output from heat pump simultaneously;increasing injection velocity causes the increase of pump power consumption and heat extraction power from geothermal well as well as net heat output between them.The entrepreneurs may refer to the above data in actual project.Furthermore,filling composite materials with high thermal conductivity into leakage formation is proposed in order to reduce the thermal resistance of rocks.

3D Conceptual Modeling and Direct Utilization Calculations of the Albanian Low and Middle Enthalpy Geothermal Resources

The use of the Albanian geothermal springs and waters, for their curative effects （Natural SPA） dates back centuries, since the time of the Roman Empire, while their first modern use started only in 1937. Unfortunately they had not been used for its energetic values yet. The temperature of the water is above 60 ~C and the flow above 16 L/s, thus direct utilization is possible, in particular for space heating. Three-dimensional temperature field calculations and engineering calculations on a heating system with heat exchangers are presented here. The results show that the water temperature is expected to be stable and considerably higher temperature is expected through deep well drilling. The University＇s Campus of Tirana is composed of 29 buildings, which are partially heated through a coal heater. The installed capacity is 2,558 kW while the coal consumption is about 920 kg/h. The University＇s Campus of Tirana is one of the most important areas and with the highest density of population in Tirana, so it is the best area to show the heat exchanger efficiency. The economic analyses prove that the borehole heat exchangers are more convenient than the coal heating systems.

Numerical study on the heat transfer performance of coaxial shallow borehole heat exchanger

In the present work,a numerical investigation on the coaxial shallow borehole heat exchanger based on Com-putational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)technique in Hefei city of China has been performed.The effects of design parameters,including inlet flow rate,inlet fluid temperature,inner pipe material and outer pipe diameter,on the heat transfer performance were systematically studied.Besides,the thermal behavior along the pipe has been carefully examined with focus on the thermal short-circuiting phenomena.When the fluid inlet velocity is less than the critical value,the turbulence intensity increases and the Nusselt number increases with the inlet flow rate increasing.However,there is sufficient time for heat transfer between the fluid in inner pipe and outer pipe because of low flow rates,leading to large heat loss,i.e.,thermal short-circuiting phenomenon.It is found that with the inlet flow rate increasing,the heat transfer increases first and then decreases,and the rate of reduction slows down gradually.When the inlet flow rate increases,the pumping power undergoes exponential growth.As the inlet temperature increasing,the heat transfer decreases almost linearly.Moreover,when the soil temperature at the top of the casing is lower than that of the fluid in the casing,heat is transferred from the fluid in the casing to the soil,and the heat loss increases with the increase of the inlet fluid temperature.The material of inner pipe with high heat conductivity would result in large heat loss under the influence of thermal short-circuiting.The heat load increases while the pumping power required decreases with the increasing of outer pipe diameter.This study is very beneficial for the coaxial shallow borehole exchanger designs and energy conservation of buildings.

Numerical simulation of underground seasonal cold energy storage for a 10 MW solar thermal power plant in north-western China using TRNSYS

This paper aims to explore an efficient, cost-effective, and water-saving seasonal cold energy storage technique based on borehole heat exchangers to cool the condenser water in a 10 MW solar thermal power plant. The proposed seasonal cooling mechanism is designed for the areas under typical weather conditions to utilize the low ambient temperature during the winter season and to store cold energy. The main objective of this paper is to utilize the storage unit in the peak summer months to cool the condenser water and to replace the dry cooling system. Using the simulation platform transient system simulation program (TRNSYS), the borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system model has been developed and the dynamic capacity of the system in the charging and discharging mode of cold energy for one-year operation is studied. The typical meteorological year (TMY) data of Dunhuang, Gansu province, in north-western China, is utilized to determine the lowest ambient temperature and operation time of the system to store cold energy. The proposed seasonal cooling system is capable of enhancing the efficiency of a solar thermal power plant up to 1.54% and 2.74% in comparison with the water-cooled condenser system and air-cooled condenser system respectively. The techno-economic assessment of the proposed technique also supports its integration with the condenser unit in the solar thermal power plant. This technique has also a great potential to save the water in desert areas.