Borehole Heat Exchangers: heat transfer simulation in the presence of a groundwater flow

The correct design of the Borehole Heat Exchanger is crucial for the operation and the energy performance of a Ground Source Heat Pump. Most design methods and tools are based on the assumption that the ground is a solid medium where conduction is the only heat transfer mechanism. In turn in regions rich in groundwater the groundwater flow influence has to be assessed, by including the convection effects. In this paper a numerical model of a 100 m U-pipe in a saturated porous medium is presented. The model is created adopting MT3DMS coupled to MODFLOW. A Darcy flow is imposed across the medium. The typical operation of a Borehole Heat Exchanger operating both in winter and in summer is simulated for two years, under different groundwater velocities. The energy injected to and extracted from the ground is derived as a function of the Darcy velocity and compared with the purely conductive case. Temperature fields in the ground at key moments are shown and discussed. From both the energy and the aquifer temperature field points of view, the velocity ranges for respectively negligible and relevant influence of the groundwater flow are identified.