Investigation on in-situ thermal behavior of tunnel surrounding rock based on the thermal probe test

Heat-transfer mechanism of energy tunnel is different from that of conventional borehole heat exchanger, where the thermal flux flows along perpendicular to the tunnel circumferential direction. However, the existing measurement methods cannot directly detect the in-situ thermal behavior and thermal conductivity of surrounding rock of tunnel circumferential direction. Hence, a thermal probe test (TPT) equipment was developed and the TPT was performed to investigate the in-situ thermal behavior of surrounding rock, the thermal conductivity measurement methods of tunnel surrounding rock was proposed and compared with laboratory measurement methods. The results showed that the developed TPT equipment achieved to directly detect the in-situ thermal behavior and thermal conductivity of circumferential surrounding rock. There was a significant variation in thermal response curves of different test areas due to the fact that joint development affected the transfer paths of the thermal flux, the temperature difference between test point 1 and test point 2 could reach up to 11.4 degrees C. The thermal conductivity tested by TPT was reliable and reflected the in-situ thermal behavior, the deviation was 6.99 % and 1.08 %, respectively, compared with laboratory measurement results. The joint development of the surrounding rock had a major impact on the thermal conductivity, where the thermal conductivity ranged from 0.66 to 2.91 W/m K in the 1# borehole and 1.96 to 3.66 W/m K in the 2# borehole. The local thermal conductivities were difficult to apply to an energy tunnel design, hence, the comprehensive thermal conductivity model of surrounding rock with joints was proposed based on series-parallel theory and was simplified according to the heat-transfer mechanism of energy tunnel. The comprehensive thermal conductivity model provided a new idea for obtaining the heterogeneity of thermal-physical properties of tunnel surrounding rock, which improved performance predictions and optimized design strategies for energy tunnel projects, enhancing their efficiency and reliability in various applications.