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A Numerical Study on the Impact of Grouting Material on Borehole Heat Exchangers Performance in Aquifers

Author

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  • Luca Alberti

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, P.zza L. da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy)

  • Adriana Angelotti

    (Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, via Lambruschini 4, Milano 20156, Italy)

  • Matteo Antelmi

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, P.zza L. da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy)

  • Ivana La Licata

    (Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, P.zza L. da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy)

Abstract

U-pipes for ground source heat pump (GSHP) installations are generally inserted in vertical boreholes back-filled with pumpable grouts. Grout thermal conductivity is a crucial parameter, dominating the borehole thermal resistance and impacting the heat exchanger efficiency. In order to seal the borehole and prevent leakages of the heat carrier fluid, grouting materials are also hydraulically impermeable, so that groundwater flow inside the borehole is inhibited. The influence of groundwater flow on the borehole heat exchangers (BHE) performance has recently been highlighted by several authors. However groundwater impact and grouting materials influence are usually evaluated separately, disregarding any combined effect. Therefore simulation is used to investigate the role of the thermal and hydraulic conductivities of the grout when the BHE operates in an aquifer with a relevant groundwater flow. Here 3 main cases for a single U-pipe in a sandy aquifer are compared. In Case 1 the borehole is back-filled with the surrounding soil formation, while a thermally enhanced grout and a low thermal conductivity grout are considered in Case 2 and Case 3 respectively. Simulations are carried out maintaining the inlet temperature constant in order to reproduce the yearly operation of the GSHP system. For each of the 3 cases three different groundwater flow velocities are considered. The results show that a high thermal conductivity grout further enhances the effects of a significant groundwater flow. The conditions when neglecting the grout material in the numerical model does not lead to relevant errors are also identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Alberti & Adriana Angelotti & Matteo Antelmi & Ivana La Licata, 2017. "A Numerical Study on the Impact of Grouting Material on Borehole Heat Exchangers Performance in Aquifers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:5:p:703-:d:98862
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    5. Alberti, Luca & Antelmi, Matteo & Angelotti, Adriana & Formentin, Giovanni, 2018. "Geothermal heat pumps for sustainable farm climatization and field irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 187-200.
    6. Joanna Piotrowska-Woroniak, 2021. "Determination of the Selected Wells Operational Power with Borehole Heat Exchangers Operating in Real Conditions, Based on Experimental Tests," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Ana Vieira & Maria Alberdi-Pagola & Paul Christodoulides & Saqib Javed & Fleur Loveridge & Frederic Nguyen & Francesco Cecinato & João Maranha & Georgios Florides & Iulia Prodan & Gust Van Lysebetten , 2017. "Characterisation of Ground Thermal and Thermo-Mechanical Behaviour for Shallow Geothermal Energy Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-51, December.
    8. Tomasz Sliwa & Tomasz Kowalski & Dominik Cekus & Aneta Sapińska-Śliwa, 2021. "Research on Fresh and Hardened Sealing Slurries with the Addition of Magnesium Regarding Thermal Conductivity for Energy Piles and Borehole Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-13, August.
    9. Claudia Naldi & Enzo Zanchini, 2019. "Full-Time-Scale Fluid-to-Ground Thermal Response of a Borefield with Uniform Fluid Temperature," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Khaled Salhein & C. J. Kobus & Mohamed Zohdy, 2022. "Control of Heat Transfer in a Vertical Ground Heat Exchanger for a Geothermal Heat Pump System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-24, July.
    11. Hossein Javadi & Seyed Soheil Mousavi Ajarostaghi & Marc A. Rosen & Mohsen Pourfallah, 2018. "A Comprehensive Review of Backfill Materials and Their Effects on Ground Heat Exchanger Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    12. Zongxian Liu & Wenshuai Song & Bo Cui & Xiaoling Wang & Hongling Yu, 2019. "A Comprehensive Evaluation Model for Curtain Grouting Efficiency Assessment Based on Prospect Theory and Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets Extended by Improved D Numbers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-30, September.

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