Long-Term Temperature Evaluation of a Ground-Coupled Heat Pump System Subject to Groundwater Flow

Nehed Jaziri, Jasmin Raymond, Nicoló Giordano and John Molson
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Nehed Jaziri: Centre Eau terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche scientifique, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
Jasmin Raymond: Centre Eau terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche scientifique, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
Nicoló Giordano: Centre Eau terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche scientifique, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
John Molson: Département de Géologie et de Génie Géologique, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Energies, 2019, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: The performance of ground-coupled heat pump systems (GCHPs) operating under significant groundwater flow can be difficult to predict due to advective heat transfer in the subsurface. This is the case of the Carignan-Salières elementary school located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River near Montréal, Canada. The building is heated and cooled with a GCHP system including 31 boreholes subject to varying groundwater flow conditions due to the proximity of an active quarry being irregularly dewatered. A study with the objective of predicting the borehole temperatures in order to anticipate potential operational problems was conducted, which provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of groundwater flow. For this purpose, a numerical model was calibrated using a full-scale heat injection test and then run under different scenarios for a period of twenty years. The heat exchange capacity of the GCHP system is clearly enhanced by advection when the Darcy flux changes from 6 × 10 −8 m s −1 (no dewatering) to 8 × 10 −7 m s −1 (high dewatering). This study further suggests that even the lowest groundwater flow condition can be beneficial to avoid a progressive cooling of the subsurface due to the unbalanced building loads, which can have important impacts for design of new systems.

Keywords: geothermal; ground-coupled heat pump; numerical modelling; groundwater; FEFLOW; building; 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
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