Validation of a Simplified Model to Determine the Long-Term Performance of Borehole Heat Exchanger Fields With Groundwater Advection

S. Lazzari[1], A. Priarone[2], and E. Zanchini[1]
[1]University of Bologna, Department DIENCA, Bologna, Italy
[2]University of Genova, Department DIPTEM, Genova, Italy
Published in 2011

Finite element simulations performed through COMSOL Multiphysics are used to study the long-term performance of BHE fields placed in a water-saturated porous soil subjected to groundwater movement. The heat transfer problem is written in a dimensionless form and the long-term time evolution of the mean surface temperature of the BHEs, sketched as cylindrical heat sources subjected to a regular time periodic heat load, is determined with reference to a single line of three BHEs and to a square field of twenty-five BHEs.

A simplified model to determine the long-term performance of BHE fields, based on the superposition principle, is proposed and validated. The accuracy of the simplified model is found to be excellent for design purposes

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