Influential factors on thermal performance of energy slabs equipped with an insulation layer

Seokjae Lee, Sangwoo Park, Jongmuk Won and Hangseok Choi

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 174, issue C, 823-834

Abstract: The energy slab is a slab structure in a building that encases heat exchangers to utilize geothermal energy for heating and cooling of the building. In the energy slabs, the presence of thermal insulation layers is crucially important compared to those of the conventional Ground Heat Exchanger (GHEX). In this paper, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed by calibrating with the result of the in-situ thermal performance test (TPT) to comprehensively assess the effect of influential factors on the thermal performance of energy slabs. Note that the thermal conductivity of ground formations and the flow rate of working fluid significantly influence the thermal performance of energy slabs. Especially in the energy slabs, the existence of a thermal insulation layer with appropriate thermal properties is significantly important to relieve the thermal interference induced by ambient air temperature. Considering the performance of thermal insulation and economic feasibility, a PF (phenol foam) board is found to be the suitable material for the energy slab considered in this paper.

Keywords: Energy slab; Ground heat exchanger (GHEX); Thermal performance test (TPT); Computational fluid-dynamic (CFD) model; Thermal insulation layer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:174:y:2021:i:c:p:823-834

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.04.090

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