Fully Coupled 3-D Conjugate Heat Transfer Algorithm for Borehole Heat Exchanger Performance Prediction |
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| Authors: | Allen J. Baker Joe A. Orzechowski Cormack Gordon |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, The University of Tennessee , Knoxville, Tennessee, USA;2. Formerly, Hardin Geothermal LLC , Indianapolis, Indiana, USA |
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| Abstract: | Quantitative three-dimensional prediction of the thermal performance of a vertical borehole heat exchanger (BHE) in a ground-source heat pump installation is sought. As BHE installation exhibits exceptionally disparate characteristic length scales, an alternative formation-fluid-thermal fully coupled algorithm is derived to quickly predict the 3-D temperature distributions. The time scale of the steady prediction is of order minutes. This simulation capability can be readily coupled to long-time (order months) unsteady simulation of an entire wellbore field. Algorithm prediction is validated by comparison with data from an instrumented commercial installation for a unique BHE conduit design, followed by illustrative design optimization or variation assessments. |
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