Numerical Investigation on Energy Efficiency of Heat Pump with Tunnel Lining Ground Heat Exchangers under Building Cooling

For mountain tunnels, ground heat exchangers can be integrated into the tunnel lining to extract geothermal energy for building heating and cooling via a heat pump. In recent decades, many researchers only focused on the thermal performance of tunnel lining GHEs, ignoring the energy efficiency of the heat pump. A numerical model combining the tunnel lining GHEs and heat pump was established to investigate the energy efficiency of the heat pump. The inlet temperature of an absorber pipe was coupled with the cooling load of GHEs in the numerical model, and the numerical results were calibrated using the in situ test data. The energy efficiency ratio (EER) of the heat pump was calculated based on the correlation of the outlet temperature and EER. The heat pump energy efficiencies under different pipe layout types, pipe pitches and pipe lengths were evaluated. The coupling effect of ventilation and groundwater flow on the energy efficiency of heat pump was investigated. The results demonstrate that (i) the absorber pipes arranged along the axial direction of the tunnel have a greater EER than those arranged along the cross direction; (ii) the EER increases exponentially with increasing absorber pipe pitch and length (the influence of the pipe pitch and length on the growth rate of EER fades gradually as wind speed and groundwater flow rate increase); (iii) the influence of groundwater conditions on the energy efficiency of heat pumps is more obvious compared with ventilation conditions. Moreover, abundant groundwater may lead to a negative effect of ventilation on the heat pump energy efficiency. Hence, the coupling effect of ventilation and groundwater flow needs to be considered for the tunnel lining GHEs design.

Utilization of Thermally Activated Building System with Horizontal Ground Heat Exchanger Considering the Weather Conditions

The thermally activated building system (TABS) can reduce the peak load by integrating with the ground heat exchangers. When integrated, the cost of groundwork and stability of the ground temperature would counteract because the weather conditions would influence the ground temperature in shallow depth. However, previous studies on TABS assumed constant ground temperatures such as average outdoor air temperature. In this study, ground temperatures in different depths are simulated for their detailed investigations, and simulated results of ground temperature were applied to building energy simulations for observing the load-handled ratio (LHR), representing the peak load reduction by TABS evaluated in various weather conditions. Simulation results of ground temperatures from 1 m to 39 m depths show that the temperature stabilized at 2 m to 11 m depths depending on the characteristics of the outdoor air temperature. LHR increased as the ground depth increased because the ground temperature at shallow depths increased during peak hours. Ground depths of 8 m were found ideal for maintaining consistent LHR for all weather conditions. Detailed observation of ground temperature and its effect on LHR in various weather conditions can help system engineers design and operate the TABS with the ground system.