IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v123y2018icp417-427.html

An innovative energy pile technology to expand the viability of geothermal bridge deck snow melting for different United States regions: Computational assisted feasibility analyses

Author

Listed:
  • Han, Chanjuan
  • Yu, Xiong (Bill)

Abstract

Energy pile provides a sustainable way for snow removal of transportation infrastructure while fulfilling its role in supporting the structural and service loads. In a previous study, the authors have analyzed the potential of conventional energy pile to remove snow on a highway bridge deck, and found that the application is only technically feasible for geographic regions with high underground thermal resources. To further expand its applications, this paper proposes an innovative energy pile technology where the concrete pile is modified with phase change material (PCM) to improve thermal energy extraction. A computational model is constructed to evaluate the performance of this new energy pile technology. The results show that geothermal energy extraction is significantly enhanced by incorporating PCM into concrete pile. Sensitivity analyses are conducted on the use of energy pile modified with different mass fraction PCM for snow melting of a prototype highway bridge deck in 10 different U.S. cities located in different climate regions. The results indicate that the new energy pile technology can potentially significantly expand the geographic regions where energy pile is viable for bridge deck snow removal. Aspects to further improve the economic viability of the new PCM modified energy pile technology are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Han, Chanjuan & Yu, Xiong (Bill), 2018. "An innovative energy pile technology to expand the viability of geothermal bridge deck snow melting for different United States regions: Computational assisted feasibility analyses," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 417-427.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:417-427
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.044
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118301885
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.044?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Han, Chanjuan & Yu, Xiong (Bill), 2016. "Sensitivity analysis of a vertical geothermal heat pump system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 148-160.
    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. Xia, Changqing & Chen, Guancong & Shi, Jiaxing & Bao, Xiaohua & Cui, Hongzhi, 2025. "Investigation of heat transfer characteristics in steel fiber-reinforced energy piles utilizing steel tubes for PCM encapsulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    2. Bao, Xiaohua & Qi, Xuedong & Cui, Hongzhi & Tang, Waiching & Chen, Xiangsheng, 2022. "Experimental study on thermal response of a PCM energy pile in unsaturated clay," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 790-803.
    3. Yuanlong Cui & Fan Zhang & Yiming Shao & Ssennoga Twaha & Hui Tong, 2022. "Techno-Economic Comprehensive Review of State-of-the-Art Geothermal and Solar Roadway Energy Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-50, September.
    4. Fei, Wenbin & Bandeira Neto, Luis A. & Dai, Sheng & Cortes, Douglas D. & Narsilio, Guillermo A., 2023. "Numerical analyses of energy screw pile filled with phase change materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 865-879.
    5. Zhang, Guozhu & Cao, Ziming & Xiao, Suguang & Guo, Yimu & Li, Chenglin, 2022. "A promising technology of cold energy storage using phase change materials to cool tunnels with geothermal hazards," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    6. Wang, Zhongjin & Jin, Kunquan & Xia, Changqing & Xu, Xiao & Cui, Hongzhi & Chen, Xiangsheng, 2024. "Influence of silicon carbide incorporation on the macroscale and microscale heat transfer characteristics of energy piles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PB).
    7. Zhou, Yang & Wang, Jinyun & Li, Chong & Kong, Gangqiang & Li, Renrong, 2024. "Thermal interference process between two energy piles in 2D model using transparent soil," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    8. Cao, Ziming & Zhang, Guozhu & Liu, Yiping & Zhao, Xu & Li, Chenglin, 2022. "Influence of backfilling phase change material on thermal performance of precast high-strength concrete energy pile," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 374-390.
    9. Aresti, Lazaros & Alvi, Maria Romana & Cecinato, Francesco & Fan, Tao & Halaj, Elzbieta & Li, Zili & Okhay, Olena & Poulsen, Soren Erbs & Quiroga, Sonia & Suarez, Cristina & Tang, Anh Minh & Valancius, 2024. "Energy geo-structures: A review of their integration with other sources and its limitations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    10. Jelušič, Primož & Žlender, Bojan, 2020. "Determining optimal designs for conventional and geothermal energy piles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P2), pages 2633-2642.
    11. Wang, Xiaozhe & Zhang, Hao & Cui, Lin & Wang, Jingying & Lee, Chunhian & Zhu, Xiaoxuan & Dong, Yong, 2024. "Borehole thermal energy storage for building heating application: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).

    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. Sadeghi, Habibollah & Jalali, Ramin & Singh, Rao Martand, 2024. "A review of borehole thermal energy storage and its integration into district heating systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Esa Dube Kerme & Alan S. Fung & Wey H. Leong, 2024. "Analysis of the Combined Effect of Major Influencing Parameters for Designing High-Performance Single (sBHE) and Double (dBHE) U-Tube Borehole Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-52, May.
    3. Elisa Heim & Marius Laska & Ralf Becker & Norbert Klitzsch, 2022. "Estimating the Subsurface Thermal Conductivity and Its Uncertainty for Shallow Geothermal Energy Use—A Workflow and Geoportal Based on Publicly Available Data," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Shi, Yu & Song, Xianzhi & Wang, Gaosheng & McLennan, John & Forbes, Bryan & Li, Xiaojiang & Li, Jiacheng, 2019. "Study on wellbore fluid flow and heat transfer of a multilateral-well CO2 enhanced geothermal system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C), pages 14-27.
    5. Han, Chanjuan & Yu, Xiong (Bill), 2020. "Analyses of the thermo-hydro-mechanical responses of energy pile subjected to non-isothermal heat exchange condition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 150-163.
    6. Song, Xianzhi & Shi, Yu & Li, Gensheng & Yang, Ruiyue & Xu, Zhengming & Zheng, Rui & Wang, Gaosheng & Lyu, Zehao, 2017. "Heat extraction performance simulation for various configurations of a downhole heat exchanger geothermal system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1489-1503.
    7. Kayaci, Nurullah, 2020. "Energy and exergy analysis and thermo-economic optimization of the ground source heat pump integrated with radiant wall panel and fan-coil unit with floor heating or radiator," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 333-349.
    8. Shohei Kaneko & Akira Tomigashi & Takeshi Ishihara & Gaurav Shrestha & Mayumi Yoshioka & Youhei Uchida, 2020. "Proposal for a Method Predicting Suitable Areas for Installation of Ground-Source Heat Pump Systems Based on Response Surface Methodology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Mohammad Shakerin & Vilde Eikeskog & Yantong Li & Trond Thorgeir Harsem & Natasa Nord & Haoran Li, 2022. "Investigation of Combined Heating and Cooling Systems with Short- and Long-Term Storages," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Attila R. Imre & Sindu Daniarta & Przemysław Błasiak & Piotr Kolasiński, 2023. "Design, Integration, and Control of Organic Rankine Cycles with Thermal Energy Storage and Two-Phase Expansion System Utilizing Intermittent and Fluctuating Heat Sources—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-25, August.
    11. Zhang, Zheng & Xiong, Youming & Gao, Yun & Liu, Liming & Wang, Menghao & Peng, Geng, 2018. "Wellbore temperature distribution during circulation stage when well-kick occurs in a continuous formation from the bottom-hole," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 964-977.
    12. Alshehri, Faisal & Beck, Stephen & Ingham, Derek & Ma, Lin & Pourkashanian, Mohammed, 2021. "Sensitivity analysis of a vertical geothermal heat pump system in a hot dry climate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 785-801.
    13. Liu, Jiaxin & Han, Chanjuan, 2023. "Design and optimization of heat extraction section in energy tunnel using simulated annealing algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 218-232.
    14. Song, Guofeng & Song, Xianzhi & Li, Gensheng & Shi, Yu & Wang, Gaosheng & Ji, Jiayan & Xu, Fuqiang & Song, Zihao, 2021. "An integrated multi-objective optimization method to improve the performance of multilateral-well geothermal system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1233-1249.
    15. Yujiao Li & Peng Liu & Wei Wang & Xianmin Ke & Yiwen Jiao & Yitian Liu & Haotian Liang, 2023. "Optimizing the Layout of a Ground Source Heat Pump System with a Groundwater–Thermal Coupling Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-18, September.
    16. Bottarelli, Michele & Baccega, Eleonora & Cesari, Silvia & Emmi, Giuseppe, 2022. "Role of phase change materials in backfilling of flat-panels ground heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 1324-1336.
    17. Muhammad Asad & Vincenzo Guida & Alessandro Mauro, 2023. "Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Efficacy of a Real Downhole Heat Exchanger," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-19, September.
    18. Pan, Shu-Yuan & Gao, Mengyao & Shah, Kinjal J. & Zheng, Jianming & Pei, Si-Lu & Chiang, Pen-Chi, 2019. "Establishment of enhanced geothermal energy utilization plans: Barriers and strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 19-32.
    19. Hu, Shixun & Li, Wei & Pei, Peng & Wang, Chen & Tang, Long, 2025. "Study on the thermo-mechanical coupling behavior of phase change backfill materials and its influence on the borehole and surrounding ground," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    20. Ruiqing Du & Dandan Jiang & Yong Wang, 2020. "Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Nanoparticle Diameter and Sphericity on the Thermal Performance of Geothermal Heat Exchanger Using Nanofluid as Heat Transfer Fluid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:renene:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:417-427. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.