Effects of heat exchange fluid characteristics and pipe configuration on the ultimate bearing capacity of energy piles

Amir Akbari Garakani, Sahar Mokhtari Jozani, Pooyan Hashemi Tari and Bahareh Heidari

Energy, 2022, vol. 248, issue C

Abstract: This paper examines the ultimate bearing capacity of energy piles in sandy and clayey soils by conducting numerical modeling under different thermal loads, fluid-pipe configurations and fluid characteristics. Accordingly, U and W-shaped fluid-pipes with different diameters were simulated using ANSYS-FLUENT software, under different inlet flow rates, fluid temperatures and ground temperatures. Moreover, a semi-empirical analytical solution is proposed for predicting the outlet temperature for different pipe configurations. Then, the energy piles were modeled using ABAQUS FE-software, and the effect of temperature distribution in U, double-U and W-shaped pipes on the ultimate bearing capacity was studied, in heating/cooling conditions. Both numerical simulations and the analytical solution were validated against experimental data. Results showed that under constant flow rate, initial inlet temperature and pipe diameter, the differences between the inlet and outlet temperature of the heat exchange fluid in the U-shaped pipes was less than that obtained for the W-shaped pipes. Also, for constant inlet temperature and pipe diameter, the temperature difference decreased when the inlet flow rate increased. It was found that under constant thermal loading conditions, the changes in the ultimate bearing capacity were higher in piles with double U-shaped pipes, followed by U-shaped pipes, and lowest for W-shaped pipes.

Keywords: Energy pile; Ultimate bearing capacity; Numerical modeling; Fluid characteristics; Pipe configuration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222004868
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:248:y:2022:i:c:s0360544222004868

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.123583

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().