IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i21p7393-d1272380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Low-Cost Distributed Thermal Response Test for the Estimation of Thermal Ground and Grout Conductivities in Geothermal Heat Pump Applications

Author

Listed:
  • Antonella Priarone

    (Dime Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transportation Engineering, The University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy)

  • Stefano Morchio

    (Dime Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transportation Engineering, The University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy)

  • Marco Fossa

    (Dime Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transportation Engineering, The University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy)

  • Samuele Memme

    (Dime Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transportation Engineering, The University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy)

Abstract

The design process of a borehole heat exchanger (BHE) requires knowledge of building thermal loads, the expected heat pump’s COP and the ground’s thermophysical properties. The thermal response test (TRT) is a common experimental technique for estimating the ground’s thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance. In classic TRT, a constant heat transfer rate is provided above ground to the carrier fluid that circulates continuously inside a pilot BHE. The average fluid temperature is measured, and from its time-dependent evolution, it is possible to infer both the thermal resistance of the BHE and the thermal conductivity of the ground. The present paper investigates the possibility of a new approach for TRT with the continuous injection of heat directly into the BHE’s grouting by means of electrical resistance imparted along the entire BHE’s length, while local (along the depth) temperature measurements are acquired. This DTRT (distributed TRT) approach has seldom been applied and, in most applications, circulating hot fluid and optical fibers are used to infer depth-related temperatures. The distributed measurements allow the detection of thermal ground anomalies along the heat exchanger and even the presence of aquifer layers. The present paper investigates the new EDDTRT (electric depth-distributed TRT, under patenting) approach based on traditional instruments (e.g., RTD) or one-wire digital sensors. The accuracy of the proposed method is numerically assessed by Comsol Multiphysics simulations. The analysis of the data obtained from the “virtual” EDDTRT confirms the possibility of estimating within 10% accuracy both thermal ground and grout conductivities.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonella Priarone & Stefano Morchio & Marco Fossa & Samuele Memme, 2023. "Low-Cost Distributed Thermal Response Test for the Estimation of Thermal Ground and Grout Conductivities in Geothermal Heat Pump Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:21:p:7393-:d:1272380
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/21/7393/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/21/7393/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Javed, Saqib & Spitler, Jeffrey, 2017. "Accuracy of borehole thermal resistance calculation methods for grouted single U-tube ground heat exchangers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 790-806.
    2. Stefano Morchio & Marco Fossa & Antonella Priarone & Alessia Boccalatte, 2021. "Reduced Scale Experimental Modelling of Distributed Thermal Response Tests for the Estimation of the Ground Thermal Conductivity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Zanchini, E. & Lazzari, S. & Priarone, A., 2010. "Improving the thermal performance of coaxial borehole heat exchangers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 657-666.
    4. Lamarche, Louis, 2013. "Short-term behavior of classical analytic solutions for the design of ground-source heat pumps," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 171-180.
    5. Aresti, Lazaros & Christodoulides, Paul & Florides, Georgios A., 2021. "An investigation on the environmental impact of various Ground Heat Exchangers configurations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 592-605.
    6. Acuña, José & Palm, Björn, 2013. "Distributed thermal response tests on pipe-in-pipe borehole heat exchangers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 312-320.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Song, Xianzhi & Wang, Gaosheng & Shi, Yu & Li, Ruixia & Xu, Zhengming & Zheng, Rui & Wang, Yu & Li, Jiacheng, 2018. "Numerical analysis of heat extraction performance of a deep coaxial borehole heat exchanger geothermal system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1298-1310.
    4. Peng Li & Peng Guan & Jun Zheng & Bin Dou & Hong Tian & Xinsheng Duan & Hejuan Liu, 2020. "Field Test and Numerical Simulation on Heat Transfer Performance of Coaxial Borehole Heat Exchanger," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Davide Quaggiotto & Angelo Zarrella & Giuseppe Emmi & Michele De Carli & Luc Pockelé & Jacques Vercruysse & Mario Psyk & Davide Righini & Antonio Galgaro & Dimitrios Mendrinos & Adriana Bernardi, 2019. "Simulation-Based Comparison Between the Thermal Behavior of Coaxial and Double U-Tube Borehole Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-18, June.
    6. Aydın, Murat & Sisman, Altug, 2015. "Experimental and computational investigation of multi U-tube boreholes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 163-171.
    7. 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.
    8. Raymond, Jasmin & Lamarche, Louis & Malo, Michel, 2015. "Field demonstration of a first thermal response test with a low power source," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 30-39.
    9. Zhang, Changxing & Wang, Xinjie & Sun, Pengkun & Kong, Xiangqiang & Sun, Shicai, 2020. "Effect of depth and fluid flow rate on estimate for borehole thermal resistance of single U-pipe borehole heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 2399-2408.
    10. Maria Isabel Vélez Márquez & Jasmin Raymond & Daniela Blessent & Mikael Philippe & Nataline Simon & Olivier Bour & Louis Lamarche, 2018. "Distributed Thermal Response Tests Using a Heating Cable and Fiber Optic Temperature Sensing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    11. Aneta Sapińska-Sliwa & Marc A. Rosen & Andrzej Gonet & Joanna Kowalczyk & Tomasz Sliwa, 2019. "A New Method Based on Thermal Response Tests for Determining Effective Thermal Conductivity and Borehole Resistivity for Borehole Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Holmberg, Henrik & Acuña, José & Næss, Erling & Sønju, Otto K., 2016. "Thermal evaluation of coaxial deep borehole heat exchangers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 65-76.
    13. Deng, Zhenpeng & Nian, Yongle & Cheng, Wen-long, 2023. "Estimation method of layered ground thermal conductivity for U-tube BHE based on the quasi-3D model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 121-133.
    14. Guo, Y. & Huang, G. & Liu, W.V., 2023. "A new semi-analytical solution addressing varying heat transfer rates for U-shaped vertical borehole heat exchangers in multilayered ground," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    15. M.F, Yozy Kepdib & R.M, Singh & C, Madiai & J.A, Facciorusso, 2025. "Heating and cooling geothermal systems in urban settings: The potential of energy micropiles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    16. Zhang, Linfeng & Zhang, Quan & Huang, Gongsheng & Du, Yaxing, 2014. "A p(t)-linear average method to estimate the thermal parameters of the borehole heat exchangers for in situ thermal response test," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 211-221.
    17. Tye-Gingras, Maxime & Gosselin, Louis, 2014. "Generic ground response functions for ground exchangers in the presence of groundwater flow," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 354-366.
    18. Choi, Wonjun & Kikumoto, Hideki & Choudhary, Ruchi & Ooka, Ryozo, 2018. "Bayesian inference for thermal response test parameter estimation and uncertainty assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 306-321.
    19. Wilke, Sascha & Menberg, Kathrin & Steger, Hagen & Blum, Philipp, 2020. "Advanced thermal response tests: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    20. 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.

    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:16:y:2023:i:21:p:7393-:d:1272380. 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.