A numerical study on effective parameters on the thermal interaction of energy pile group

• Published in: مهندسی عمران شریف Vol. 39.2; no. 3; pp. 13 - 24
• Main Authors: M.I. Danish, M. A. Kiani Fordoei, M. NorouzOliaei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Persian
• Published: Sharif University of Technology 01.12.2023
• Subjects: comsol; energy pile group; extracted energy; geothermal energy; heat transfer in soil; interaction
• ISSN: 2676-4768; 2676-4776
• DOI: 10.24200/j30.2023.61069.3145

Global population growth and industrialisation over the past two centuries have been increased the tendency toward increased use of fossil fuels. The rising trend in greenhouse gas emissions brought on by the usage of fossil fuels has contributed to global warming and, as a result, increased environmental hazards. Geothermal energy is a substantial source of clean, sustainable, and renewable energy that is utilized extensively for building heating and cooling and has a big impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Energy piles as a convenient and efficient energy geo-structure receiving a lot of attention worldwide for use in building heating and cooling. Investigating the variables influencing the thermal interaction between the group of energy piles and its impact on reducing the extracted energy from the energy pile group is the goal of this study. The soil porosity, mass flow rate of the circulating fluid, pile diameter, pile length, and pile position have all been investigated using the COMSOL Multiphysics Software. The analysis of the simulation data reveals that as energy piles' diameters increase, so does the amount of extracted energy. The amount of energy extracted is significantly influenced by the soil's porosity, which causes thermal interaction to decrease and energy extraction to increase as porosity increases. It was found that the amount of energy extracted is not significantly affected by the mass flow rate of the fluid circulating in the pipe. If the amount of extracted energy calculated with respect to the pile length, as the length of the pile increases, the average energy extracted per meter of the pile decreases and tends to a constant value. When the pile diameter is kept constant, pile interaction tends to be reduced by increasing the ratio of the pile diameter to the pile spacing (s/D), and as a result, the amount of energy extracted increased. In the group of energy piles, it has also been found that the corner piles are the most and the center piles are the least effective piles.