Comparison of Four Methods for Borehole Heat Exchanger Sizing Subject to Thermal Response Test Parameter Estimation

Xuedan Zhang, Tiantian Zhang, Bingxi Li and Yiqiang Jiang
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Xuedan Zhang: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Tiantian Zhang: School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Bingxi Li: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Yiqiang Jiang: School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-30

Abstract: The impact of different parameter estimation results on the design length of a borehole heat exchanger has received very little attention. This paper provides an in-depth investigation of this problem, together with a full presentation of six data interpretation models and a comprehensive comparison of four representative sizing methods and their inter models. Six heat transfer models were employed to interpret the same thermal response test data set. It was found that the estimated parameters varied with the data interpretation model. The relative difference in borehole thermal resistance reached 34.4%, and this value was 11.9% for soil thermal conductivity. The resulting parameter estimation results were used to simulate mean fluid temperature for a single borehole and then to determine the borehole length for a large bore field. The variations in these two correlated parameters caused about 15% and 5% relative difference in mean fluid temperature in the beginning and at the end of the simulation period, respectively. For computing the borehole design length, software-based methods were more sensitive to the influence of parameter estimation results than simple equation-based methods. It is expected that these comparisons will be beneficial to anyone involved in the design of ground-coupled heat pump systems.

Keywords: borehole heat exchanger; thermal response test; parameter estimation; design and simulation (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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