Field Tests of the Thermal Performance of Two Borehole Heat Exchangers in Sand Aquifers
- Key words
- Geothermal; ground source heat pump; borehole heat exchanger; thermal performance; sand aquifer
- Location
- Shouguang, China
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2012
- Session
- Geothermal heat pumps; Downhole heat exchangers; Equipment d
- Language
- English
Abstract
Groundwater flow plays an important role in affecting the thermal performance of borehole heat exchangers (BHEs). In the present work, a group of tests to quantitatively compare the thermal performance of two BHEs in different sand aquifers were conducted. The results showed that groundwater advection is a crucial factor to enhance the heat transfer of BHEs especially in regions with multi aquifers. The enhanced effect by groundwater flow depends greatly on the thickness and depth of aquifers. When the aquifers cover the middle or lower part of BHEs, the heat transfer becomes more intense. The present work can provide guidelines for the design of ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems.
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