IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i4p1149-d503362.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A New Estimate of Sand and Grout Thermal Properties in the Sandbox Experiment for Accurate Validations of Borehole Simulation Codes

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Naldi

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering and Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

  • Aminhossein Jahanbin

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering and Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

  • Enzo Zanchini

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering and Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Ground-coupled heat pumps usually employ fields of borehole heat exchangers (BHEs), which must be designed by suitable models. In order to validate a BHE model, it is advisable to compare the computation results with experimental data. A well-known data set was provided by Beier et al. (Geothermics 2011, 40) through a laboratory model usually called “sandbox”. Several authors proposed estimates of the thermal properties of the sandbox grout and sand. In this paper, we present a new estimate of those properties, obtained by means of 2D finite-element simulations that consider all the details of the experimental setup, including the thin aluminum pipe at the BHE boundary. Our results show that the measured temperatures in the fluid and in the sand can be reproduced very accurately by considering thermal conductivities 0.863 W/(mK) for the grout and 3.22 W/(mK) for the sand, volumetric heat capacities 4.6 MJ/(m 3 K) for the grout and 3.07 MJ/(m 3 K) for the sand, and a slightly enhanced heat capacity of the water contained in the BHE. The 2D simulations are validated by comparison with an analytical solution and by 3D simulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Naldi & Aminhossein Jahanbin & Enzo Zanchini, 2021. "A New Estimate of Sand and Grout Thermal Properties in the Sandbox Experiment for Accurate Validations of Borehole Simulation Codes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-25, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:4:p:1149-:d:503362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/4/1149/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/4/1149/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carotenuto, Alberto & Ciccolella, Michela & Massarotti, Nicola & Mauro, Alessandro, 2016. "Models for thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena in low enthalpy geothermal energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 330-355.
    2. Zhu, Li & Chen, Sarula & Yang, Yang & Sun, Yong, 2019. "Transient heat transfer performance of a vertical double U-tube borehole heat exchanger under different operation conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 494-505.
    3. Ruiz-Calvo, F. & De Rosa, M. & Acuña, J. & Corberán, J.M. & Montagud, C., 2015. "Experimental validation of a short-term Borehole-to-Ground (B2G) dynamic model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 210-223.
    4. 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.
    5. Pasquier, Philippe & Marcotte, Denis, 2012. "Short-term simulation of ground heat exchanger with an improved TRCM," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 92-99.
    6. Alejandro García-Gil & Miguel Mejías Moreno & Eduardo Garrido Schneider & Miguel Ángel Marazuela & Corinna Abesser & Jesús Mateo Lázaro & José Ángel Sánchez Navarro, 2020. "Nested Shallow Geothermal Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-13, June.
    7. Ma, WeiWu & Li, Min & Li, Ping & Lai, Alvin C.K., 2015. "New quasi-3D model for heat transfer in U-shaped GHEs (ground heat exchangers): Effective overall thermal resistance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 578-587.
    8. Xinbo Lei & Xiuhua Zheng & Chenyang Duan & Jianhong Ye & Kang Liu, 2019. "Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Geothermal Field of Buried Pipe Group Coupled with Heat and Permeable Groundwater," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Zarrella, Angelo & Scarpa, Massimiliano & De Carli, Michele, 2011. "Short time step analysis of vertical ground-coupled heat exchangers: The approach of CaRM," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 2357-2367.
    10. Zhang, Linfeng & Zhang, Quan & Huang, Gongsheng, 2016. "A transient quasi-3D entire time scale line source model for the fluid and ground temperature prediction of vertical ground heat exchangers (GHEs)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 65-75.
    11. Li, Min & Lai, Alvin C.K., 2012. "New temperature response functions (G functions) for pile and borehole ground heat exchangers based on composite-medium line-source theory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 255-263.
    12. Zanchini, E. & Lazzari, S. & Priarone, A., 2010. "Improving the thermal performance of coaxial borehole heat exchangers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 657-666.
    13. Li, Min & Lai, Alvin C.K., 2013. "Analytical model for short-time responses of ground heat exchangers with U-shaped tubes: Model development and validation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 510-516.
    14. Yang, H. & Cui, P. & Fang, Z., 2010. "Vertical-borehole ground-coupled heat pumps: A review of models and systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 16-27, January.
    15. Aminhossein Jahanbin & Claudia Naldi & Enzo Zanchini, 2020. "Relation Between Mean Fluid Temperature and Outlet Temperature for Single U-Tube Boreholes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    16. Zanchini, Enzo & Jahanbin, Aminhossein, 2017. "Correlations to determine the mean fluid temperature of double U-tube borehole heat exchangers with a typical geometry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1406-1415.
    17. García-Gil, Alejandro & Muela Maya, Sylvia & Garrido Schneider, Eduardo & Mejías Moreno, Miguel & Vázquez-Suñé, Enric & Marazuela, Miguel Ángel & Mateo Lázaro, Jesús & Sánchez-Navarro, José Ángel, 2019. "Sustainability indicator for the prevention of potential thermal interferences between groundwater heat pump systems in urban aquifers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 14-24.
    18. De Carli, Michele & Tonon, Massimo & Zarrella, Angelo & Zecchin, Roberto, 2010. "A computational capacity resistance model (CaRM) for vertical ground-coupled heat exchangers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1537-1550.
    19. Zhang, Changxing & Guo, Zhanjun & Liu, Yufeng & Cong, Xiaochun & Peng, Donggen, 2014. "A review on thermal response test of ground-coupled heat pump systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 851-867.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joanna Piotrowska-Woroniak, 2021. "Assessment of Ground Regeneration around Borehole Heat Exchangers between Heating Seasons in Cold Climates: A Case Study in Bialystok (NE, Poland)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-32, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aminhossein Jahanbin & Claudia Naldi & Enzo Zanchini, 2020. "Relation Between Mean Fluid Temperature and Outlet Temperature for Single U-Tube Boreholes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Cui, Yuanlong & Zhu, Jie & Twaha, Ssennoga & Riffat, Saffa, 2018. "A comprehensive review on 2D and 3D models of vertical ground heat exchangers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 84-114.
    4. Li, Min & Lai, Alvin C.K., 2015. "Review of analytical models for heat transfer by vertical ground heat exchangers (GHEs): A perspective of time and space scales," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 178-191.
    5. Carotenuto, Alberto & Ciccolella, Michela & Massarotti, Nicola & Mauro, Alessandro, 2016. "Models for thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena in low enthalpy geothermal energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 330-355.
    6. Nian, Yong-Le & Cheng, Wen-Long, 2018. "Insights into geothermal utilization of abandoned oil and gas wells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 44-60.
    7. Zhang, Linfeng & Zhang, Quan & Huang, Gongsheng, 2016. "A transient quasi-3D entire time scale line source model for the fluid and ground temperature prediction of vertical ground heat exchangers (GHEs)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 65-75.
    8. Javadi, Hossein & Mousavi Ajarostaghi, Seyed Soheil & Rosen, Marc A. & Pourfallah, Mohsen, 2019. "Performance of ground heat exchangers: A comprehensive review of recent advances," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 207-233.
    9. Zhang, Donghai & Gao, Penghui & Zhou, Yang & Wang, Yijiang & Zhou, Guoqing, 2020. "An experimental and numerical investigation on temperature profile of underground soil in the process of heat storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1-21.
    10. Maestre, Ismael Rodríguez & Gallero, Francisco Javier González & Gómez, Pascual Álvarez & Pérez-Lombard, Luis, 2015. "A new RC and g-function hybrid model to simulate vertical ground heat exchangers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 631-642.
    11. Somogyi, Viola & Sebestyén, Viktor & Nagy, Georgina, 2017. "Scientific achievements and regulation of shallow geothermal systems in six European countries – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 934-952.
    12. Li, Min & Zhang, Liwen & Liu, Gang, 2019. "Estimation of thermal properties of soil and backfilling material from thermal response tests (TRTs) for exploiting shallow geothermal energy: Sensitivity, identifiability, and uncertainty," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1263-1270.
    13. Ikeda, Shintaro & Choi, Wonjun & Ooka, Ryozo, 2017. "Optimization method for multiple heat source operation including ground source heat pump considering dynamic variation in ground temperature," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 466-478.
    14. Matt S. Mitchell & Jeffrey D. Spitler, 2020. "An Enhanced Vertical Ground Heat Exchanger Model for Whole-Building Energy Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    15. Ma, WeiWu & Li, Min & Li, Ping & Lai, Alvin C.K., 2015. "New quasi-3D model for heat transfer in U-shaped GHEs (ground heat exchangers): Effective overall thermal resistance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 578-587.
    16. Lee, C.K., 2016. "A modified three-dimensional numerical model for predicting the short-time-step performance of borehole ground heat exchangers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(P1), pages 618-627.
    17. Gordon, David & Bolisetti, Tirupati & Ting, David S-K. & Reitsma, Stanley, 2017. "A physical and semi-analytical comparison between coaxial BHE designs considering various piping materials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1610-1621.
    18. Biglarian, Hassan & Abbaspour, Madjid & Saidi, Mohammad Hassan, 2018. "Evaluation of a transient borehole heat exchanger model in dynamic simulation of a ground source heat pump system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 81-93.
    19. Extremera-Jiménez, Alejandro J. & Gutiérrez-Montes, Cándido & Casanova-Peláez, Pedro J. & Cruz-Peragón, Fernando, 2022. "Vertical ground heat exchanger parameter characterization through a compound design of experiments," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1361-1371.
    20. Abbas, Zulkarnain & Yong, Li & Abbas, Saqlain & Chen, Dongwen & Li, Y. & Wang, R.Z., 2021. "Performance analysis of seasonal soil heat storage system based on numerical simulation and experimental investigation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 66-78.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:4:p:1149-:d:503362. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.