Heat and Mass Transfer Behavior Prediction and Thermal Performance Analysis of Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger by Finite Volume Method

Qinggong Liu, Zhenyu Du and Yi Fan
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Qinggong Liu: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Zhenyu Du: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Yi Fan: School of Engineering, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: A comprehensive numerical study on coupled heat and mass transfer in an earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE) is conducted by self-complied program based on the finite volume method. The soil thermal and moisture coupled characteristics in the vicinity of the pipe and the thermal performance of the EAHE are evaluated by a two-dimensional simulation model. The model of the EAHE is verified by the experimental data, which achieved a good agreement with each other. The numerical results show that there is an obvious moisture peak in the radial direction, and the peak position radially moves away from the wall of the pipe over time. It is also found that the thermal performance of the heat and mass transfer model in soil is better than the pure heat conduction model.

Keywords: earth-to-air heat exchanger; coupled heat and mass transfer; numerical simulation; energy conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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