scholarly journals Thermal energy storage in embankments: Investigation of the thermal properties of an unsaturated compacted soil

2020 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 07011
Author(s):  
Mojdeh Lahoori ◽  
Sandrine Rosin-Paumier ◽  
Yves Jannot ◽  
Ahmed Boukelia ◽  
Farimah Masrouri

Thermal energy storage in compacted soils can be considered as a new economically efficient and environmentally friendly technology in geotechnical engineering. Compacted soils are usually unsaturated; therefore, reliable estimates and measurements of their thermal properties are important in the efficiency analysis of these structures. In this study, a method is used to estimate the thermal properties of an unsaturated compacted soil. Several temperature sensors were placed in a thermo-regulated metric scale container to monitor the imposed temperature variation in the range of the 20 to 50 °C. This imposed temperature variation reproduced the temperature variation in the thermal energy storages. An inverse analytical model based on a one-dimensional radial heat conduction equation is used to estimate the thermal diffusivity using the temperature variation between two temperature sensors. The volumetric heat capacity was measured using a calorimeter in the laboratory, enabling the estimation of the thermal conductivity of the compacted soil. Then, this estimated thermal conductivity was compared with the thermal conductivity values measured with two other methods (steady-state and transient-state method). The difference between them are discussed in terms of the sample heterogeneity, sample size, and measurement method.

Author(s):  
Aitor Zabalegui ◽  
Bernadette Tong ◽  
Hohyun Lee

Phase change materials (PCMs) are promising for thermal energy storage applications, but low thermal conductivity limits their heat exchange rate with a working fluid. The nanofluid approach has been established as a method of thermal conductivity enhancement, but particle addition may have an adverse effect on specific energy storage capacity. Latent heat reduction beyond traditional theory has been observed experimentally for carbon nanotubes dispersed in paraffin wax. Nanofluid latent heat and effective thermal conductivity were analyzed to investigate the effects of particle addition on thermal properties affecting PCM energy storage performance. It is shown that particle diameter significantly impacts nanofluid latent heat, with smaller particles generating greater degrees of reduction, but has a negligible effect on thermal conductivity. A method to approximate nanofluid latent heat of fusion is presented, considering the diameter-dependent reduction observed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Law Torres Sevilla ◽  
Jovana Radulovic

This paper studies the influence of material thermal properties on the charging dynamics in a low temperature Thermal Energy Storage, which combines sensible and latent heat. The analysis is based on a small scale packed bed with encapsulated PCMs, numerically solved using COMSOL Multiphysics. The PCMs studied are materials constructed based on typical thermal properties (melting temperature, density, specific heat capacity (solid and liquid), thermal conductivity (solid and liquid) and the latent heat) of storage mediums in literature. The range of values are: 25–65°C for the melting temperature, 10–500 kJ/kg for the latent heat, 600–1,000 kg/m3 for the density, 0.1–0.4 W/mK (solid and liquid) for the thermal conductivity and 1,000–2,200 J/kgK (solid and liquid) for the specific heat capacity. The temperature change is monitored at three different positions along the tank. The system consists of a 2D tank with L/D ratio of 1 at a starting temperature of 20°C. Water, as the heat transfer fluid, enters the tank at 90°C. Results indicate that latent heat is a leading parameter in the performance of the system, and that the thermal properties of the PCM in liquid phase influence the overall heat absorption more than its solid counterpart.


2015 ◽  
Vol 804 ◽  
pp. 115-118
Author(s):  
Pongsak Jittabut

This research article presents the mechanical and thermal properties of cement-based composite for thermal energy storage materials enriched with containing nanoTiO2 particle size (25 nm) and concentration (1-5 wt.%) were systematically investigated. Thermal properties coefficients were tested using a direct measuring instrument with surface probe (ISOMET2114). The influence of nanoTiO2 on the performance, such as compressive strength, bulk density, thermal conductivity, volume heat capacity and thermal diffusivity of hardened composite cement pastes were studied for future solar thermal energy materials with better performance. According to the development of thermal storage materials and their application environment requirement in solar thermal power, the specimens were subjected to heat at 350°C and 900°C. It was observed that, before heating, the compressive strength is optimized at nanoTiO2 amount of 2 wt%. Moreover, after heating at 350 °C and 900°C, the thermal conductivity and volume heat capacity of the cement paste enriched with nanoTiO2 were significantly lesser than that of the before heating one.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4246
Author(s):  
Zheng Sun ◽  
Liyi Zou ◽  
Xiaomin Cheng ◽  
Jiaoqun Zhu ◽  
Yuanyuan Li ◽  
...  

This work studied the thermophysical properties of Mg-24%Cu, Mg-31%Cu, and Mg-45%Cu (wt.%) alloys to comprehensively consider the possibility of using them as thermal energy storage (TES) phase change materials (PCMs) used at high temperatures. The microstructure, phase composition, phase change temperatures, and enthalpy of these alloys were investigated by an electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The XRD and EPMA results indicated that the binary eutectic phase composed of α-Mg and Mg2Cu exists in the microstructure of the prepared Mg–Cu series alloys. The microstructure of Mg-24%Cu and Mg-31%Cu is composed of α-Mg matrix and binary eutectic phases, and Mg-45%Cu is composed of primary Mg2Cu and binary eutectic phases. The number of eutectic phases is largest in Mg-31%Cu alloy. The DSC curves indicated that the onset melting temperature of Mg-24%Cu, Mg-31%Cu, and Mg-45%Cu alloys were 485, 486, and 485 °C, and the melting enthalpies were 152, 215, and 91 J/g. Thermal expansion and thermal conductivity were also determined, revealing that the Mg–Cu alloys had a low linear thermal expansion coefficient and high thermal conductivity with respect to increasing temperatures. In conclusion, the thermal properties demonstrated that the Mg–Cu alloys can be considered as a potential PCM for TES.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 6234
Author(s):  
Ciprian Neagoe ◽  
Ioan Albert Tudor ◽  
Cristina Florentina Ciobota ◽  
Cristian Bogdanescu ◽  
Paul Stanciu ◽  
...  

Microencapsulation of sodium nitrate (NaNO3) as phase change material for high temperature thermal energy storage aims to reduce costs related to metal corrosion in storage tanks. The goal of this work was to test in a prototype thermal energy storage tank (16.7 L internal volume) the thermal properties of NaNO3 microencapsulated in zinc oxide shells, and estimate the potential of NaNO3–ZnO microcapsules for thermal storage applications. A fast and scalable microencapsulation procedure was developed, a flow calorimetry method was adapted, and a template document created to perform tank thermal transfer simulation by the finite element method (FEM) was set in Microsoft Excel. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transient plane source (TPS) methods were used to measure, in small samples, the temperature dependency of melting/solidification heat, specific heat, and thermal conductivity of the NaNO3–ZnO microcapsules. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical analysis demonstrated the stability of microcapsules over multiple tank charge–discharge cycles. The energy stored as latent heat is available for a temperature interval from 303 to 285 °C, corresponding to onset–offset for NaNO3 solidification. Charge–self-discharge experiments on the pilot tank showed that the amount of thermal energy stored in this interval largely corresponds to the NaNO3 content of the microcapsules; the high temperature energy density of microcapsules is estimated in the range from 145 to 179 MJ/m3. Comparison between real tank experiments and FEM simulations demonstrated that DSC and TPS laboratory measurements on microcapsule thermal properties may reliably be used to design applications for thermal energy storage.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1790
Author(s):  
Francesco Galvagnini ◽  
Andrea Dorigato ◽  
Luca Fambri ◽  
Giulia Fredi ◽  
Alessandro Pegoretti

Syntactic foams (SFs) combining an epoxy resin and hollow glass microspheres (HGM) feature a unique combination of low density, high mechanical properties, and low thermal conductivity which can be tuned according to specific applications. In this work, the versatility of epoxy/HGM SFs was further expanded by adding a microencapsulated phase change material (PCM) providing thermal energy storage (TES) ability at a phase change temperature of 43 °C. At this aim, fifteen epoxy (HGM/PCM) compositions with a total filler content (HGM + PCM) of up to 40 vol% were prepared and characterized. The experimental results were fitted with statistical models, which resulted in ternary diagrams that visually represented the properties of the ternary systems and simplified trend identification. Dynamic rheological tests showed that the PCM increased the viscosity of the epoxy resin more than HGM due to the smaller average size (20 µm vs. 60 µm) and that the systems containing both HGM and PCM showed lower viscosity than those containing only one filler type, due to the higher packing efficiency of bimodal filler distributions. HGM strongly reduced the gravimetric density and the thermal insulation properties. In fact, the sample with 40 vol% of HGM showed a density of 0.735 g/cm3 (−35% than neat epoxy) and a thermal conductivity of 0.12 W/(m∙K) (−40% than neat epoxy). Moreover, the increase in the PCM content increased the specific phase change enthalpy, which was up to 68 J/g for the sample with 40 vol% of PCM, with a consequent improvement in the thermal management ability that was also evidenced by temperature profiling tests in transient heating and cooling regimes. Finally, dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) showed that both fillers decreased the storage modulus but generally increased the storage modulus normalized by density (E′/ρ) up to 2440 MPa/(g/cm3) at 25 °C with 40 vol% of HGM (+48% than neat epoxy). These results confirmed that the main asset of these ternary multifunctional syntactic foams is their versatility, as the composition can be tuned to reach the property set that best matches the application requirements in terms of TES ability, thermal insulation, and low density.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4379
Author(s):  
Max Hesselbrandt ◽  
Mikael Erlström ◽  
Daniel Sopher ◽  
Jose Acuna

Assessing the optimal placement and design of a large-scale high temperature energy storage system in crystalline bedrock is a challenging task. This study applies and evaluates various methods and strategies for pre-site investigation for a potential high temperature borehole thermal energy storage (HT-BTES) system at Linköping in Sweden. The storage is required to shift approximately 70 GWh of excess heat generated from a waste incineration plant during the summer to the winter season. Ideally, the site for the HT-BTES system should be able to accommodate up to 1400 wells to 300 m depth. The presence of major fracture zones, high groundwater flow, anisotropic thermal properties, and thick Quaternary overburden are all factors that play an important role in the performance of an HT-BTES system. Inadequate input data to the modeling and design increases the risk of unsatisfactory performance, unwanted thermal impact on the surroundings, and suboptimal placement of the HT-BTES system, especially in a complex crystalline bedrock setting. Hence, it is crucial that the subsurface geological conditions and associated thermal properties are suitably characterized as part of pre-investigation work. In this study, we utilize a range of methods for pre-site investigation in the greater Distorp area, in the vicinity of Linköping. Ground geophysical methods, including magnetic and Very Low-Frequency (VLF) measurements, are collected across the study area together with outcrop observations and lab analysis on rock samples. Borehole investigations are conducted, including Thermal Response Test (TRT) and Distributed Thermal Response Test (DTRT) measurements, as well as geophysical wireline logging. Drone-based photogrammetry is also applied to characterize the fracture distribution and orientation in outcrops. In the case of the Distorp site, these methods have proven to give useful information to optimize the placement of the HT-BTES system and to inform design and modeling work. Furthermore, many of the methods applied in the study have proven to require only a fraction of the resources required to drill a single well, and hence, can be considered relatively efficient.


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