Energy 55 (2013) 417e425

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Energy
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The analysis on solid cylindrical heat source model of foundation pile

ground heat exchangers with groundwater flow
Wenke Zhang a, *, Hongxing Yang a, Lin Lu a, Zhaohong Fang b
a
Renewable Energy Research Group, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
b
Shandong Key Laboratory of Building Energy-saving Technique, Jinan, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents a solid cylindrical simulation model of heat transfer around foundation pile ground
Received 27 September 2012 heat exchangers with groundwater flow for ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) applications. The
Received in revised form analytical solutions of the temperature response in the heat transfer process including heat conduction
26 March 2013
and convection were obtained. The impact of groundwater flow on the heat transfer has been investi-
Accepted 27 March 2013
Available online 4 May 2013
gated. The heat transfer processes with and without groundwater flow were compared. It was found
that groundwater flow has a considerable effect on the heat transfer process, especially when the
groundwater flow velocity attains a certain order of magnitude. If the system is designed reasonably and
Keywords:
Ground-coupled heat pump
groundwater temperature is below a certain range, groundwater flow is favorable to the heat transfer
Foundation pile ground heat exchanger between the foundation pile ground heat exchangers (GHEs) and surrounding ground medium, and can
Solid cylindrical heat source improve the energy performance of the heating and cooling system of the ground-coupled heat pump for
Groundwater flow energy conservation of buildings.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) system has attracted
more and more attention in virtue of energy conservation and
environmental protection, which extracts and discharges thermal
energy from and into underground in winter and summer respec-
tively in order to achieve space heating and cooling for residential
or commercial buildings. However, the high cost to develop bore-
hole ground heat exchangers (GHEs) is the main impediment to the
development of GCHP system due to expensive spending on drilling
boreholes. If the ground heat exchanger tubes are buried in foun-
dation piles of buildings, pile ground heat exchangers (GHEs) will
come into being; this will take on a certain amount of air-condi-
tioning load and the rest load can be charged with borehole GHEs;
this can lower the whole initial cost, in addition, as the diameter of
piles is thicker than that of common boreholes, the heat transfer
quantity per meter of pile GHEs is greater than that of borehole
GHEs. Accordingly, the initial cost of drilling boreholes can be
dropped because of sharing heating or cooling load by means of pile
GHEs. Furthermore, the length of piles is usually more than ten
meters and even reaches dozens of meters, it may more or less
penetrate several geologic strata and pass through water tables,
water is held and moves between the grains of geologic formations
in response to hydraulic gradients. Owning to groundwater flow,
the heat transfer problem between pile GHEs and surrounding
medium becomes more sophisticated considering that it is a
coupled process which comprises conduction through the solid
matrix and water in its pores and heat advection by moving
groundwater. It is favorable to heat transfer efficient if the
groundwater flow is in existence since the temperature response
can be alleviated and then the heat transfer quantity is able to be
strengthened, so pile GHEs can undertake more heating or cooling
load. The economic effectiveness can also be further improved on
the understanding that the investigation on the groundwater flow
is in-depth and in detail. Nevertheless few models or explicit so-
lutions are summarized in previous papers or other documenta-
tion; this paper illustrates an explicit seepage flow model and
corresponding analytical solutions for the sake of elaborating such
a complicated problem.
2. Development of the correlative models

2.1. The foundation pile ground heat exchangers

* Corresponding author. FJ401, Department of Building Services Engineering, The
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. Tel.: þ852 9145 0263, þ852
2766 4836; fax: þ852 2765 7198. The construction features of pile GHEs are different from those
E-mail address: wenkezhang2006@163.com (W. Zhang). of vertical borehole GHEs; the diameter of piles is thicker, and

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.03.092
418 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425

Nomenclature Cp specific heat capacity

a thermal diffusivity (m2 s1) Greek symbols

c specific heat (J kg1 K1) Q dimensionless excess temperature
Fo Fourier number q excess temperature
x, y, z Cartesian coordinates (m) r density (kg m3)
h1, h2 depth (m) s time (s)
ql heating rate per length of source (W m1) 4 angular coordinate (rad)
r0 cylinder radius (m) x , h, m moving Cartesian coordinates
t0 initial temperature (K)
u speed in x-direction (m s1) Subscripts
T temperature (K) c conduction
R distance (m) i infinite model
k thermal conductivity (W m1 K1) f finite model
h depth of finite cylindrical source (m) a advection
r radial coordinate (m) p average value
H dimensionless depth
R dimensionless cylindrical coordinate Superscript
X,Y,Z dimensionless Cartesian coordinate 0 integration parameter
S dimensionless velocity

depth is shorter. In addition, the plastic tube that works as heat
transfer element is a spiral tube which is close to the outside of piles
but not a U-tube. Some other types of tube were applied in the past,
such as: single U-tube, W-tube, double U-tube and treble U-tube,
but there are some problems that need to be mentioned. Firstly, the
heat transfer area is small and this will not make use of space of pile
if single U-tube is buried in piles [1]. Secondly, it is easy to give rise
to air accumulation in the top of pipe when W-tube is taken into
consideration and then lead to the obstruction of circulating solu-
tion. Furthermore, though the shunt-wound double U-tubes or
treble U-tubes have been installed in Europe and are in operation
with success, because they can achieve high heat transfer efficiency
[2,3]. However, this will increase the total heat transfer area, the
flow area will become larger and the temperature difference be-
tween the inlet and outlet of pipes will drop. This is adverse to heat
transfer process, because the circulating pump power and running
cost will be added [4,5].
In sharp contrast, the coefficient of heat transmission of spiral
tubes is higher than that of straight tube, that is to say, the spiral
tube is more complicated and possibly has a higher cost than the
construction of a U-tube, or W-tube or double U-tube, but more
heat transfer area can be attained in the same space and longer tube
can be arranged. The spiral coils can be fixed in the prefabricated
hollow steel cage, these coils and steel cage are both lowered into
the pile foundation. And then the concrete is cast into pile foun-
dation, the whole process is not complicated. The corresponding
figure (Fig. 1) is shown as:
model has been suggested and the pile GHEs characteristics are
taken into proper consideration [7]. In this model, the interior of
cylinder is no longer a cavity but filled with the medium which is
identical to that out of the cylinder.
As far as pure conduction models are concerned, the research
begins with the temperature response which is induced by an
instantaneous point heat source in infinite homogeneous medium,
i.e. Green function, the point heat source locates at (x0 , y0, z0 ) and it
starts to emit heat with the intensity q (W), the temperature
response of any point in the medium except point source is
expressed as:
1
Gðx; y; z; s; x0 ; y0 ; z0 ; s0 Þ ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3 exp
8 paðs  s0 Þ
" #
ðx  x0 Þ2 þ ðy  y0 Þ2 þ ðz  z0 Þ2
 
4aðs  s0 Þ
(1)
According to Green function, any heat source with complex
shape can be regarded as the aggregate of a lot of points in space,
and the heat source keeps sequential heating can be looked upon as
concourse of a great many of points chronologically. In view of the
conversion between Cartesian coordinate and cylindrical coordi-
nate, the location of point heat source can be illustrated as:

2.2. Pure conduction models

In the past studies, some scholars brought forward line heat

source model for borehole GHEs [6] in that its depth is great and
diameter is little so the borehole is simplified as a line source with
its radial dimension neglected for this reason. However, piles are
much thicker in diameter and shorter in depth than boreholes, and
therefore line source is no longer suitable for pile GHEs. Another
heat source model which is called “hollow” cylindrical heat source
is put forward, though this model in which both depth dimension
and radial dimension of pile GHEs are considered, whereas the
interior of source is a cavity and heat capacity of cylindrical is
ignored, which will lead to calculation errors. Based on the classical
models, a model which is entitled the “solid” cylindrical heat source Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of foundation pile ground heat exchangers.
 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425 419

x0 ¼ r0 cos 40 , y0 ¼ r0 sin 40 , z0 ¼ z0 , and any point location except heat Zs   " # (

ql ds0 rr0 r 2 þ r02
source can be expressed as: x ¼ rcos 4, y ¼ rsin 4, z ¼ z. qc;f ¼ I exp  $ erfc
8pk ðs  s0 Þ 0 2aðs  s0 Þ 4aðs  s0 Þ
The expression of Green function becomes: 0
" # " # " #
1 z  h2 z  h1 z þ h2
Gðr; 4; z; s; r 0 ; 40 ; z0 ; s0 Þ ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3 $exp  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi þ erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ
8 paðs  s0 Þ " #)
" #
r 2 þ r 0 2  2rr 0 cos ð4  40 Þ þ ðz  z0 Þ2 z þ h1
   erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
4aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ

(2) (4)
Infinite model lays the groundwork for the study of finite model,
The solid cylindrical heat source model should be investigated
as we know, the pile length is finite, so finite model is proximate to
from infinite model to finite model [8], i.e. from one-dimensional to
the actual circumstance. If dimensionless parameters are adopted,
two-dimensional, from abstract to concrete and from simple to
such as:
complex. The pre-conditions of research can be concluded as [9]:
Qc;f ¼ kqc;f =ql ; H1 ¼ h1 =r0 ; H2 ¼ h2 =r0 ; Z ¼ z=r0 ;
(1) The ground is deemed to be a homogeneous medium inside and
Fo ¼ as=r02 ; R ¼ r=r0 ;
outside the cylindrical surface in the process of investigation.
(2)The medium has uniform initial temperature t0, temperature Formula (4) is converted into:
of any point in the medium except heat source can be denoted
by sign t; and its thermophysical properties will not change with ZFo     
temperature, the temperature response is defined as: q ¼ t  t0. 1 dFo0 R R2 þ 1
Qc;f ¼ I exp  $ erfc
(3)Whether for infinite model or for finite model, the solid cy- 8p ðFo  Fo0 Þ 0 2ðFo  Fo0 Þ 4ðFo  Fo0 Þ
0
lindrical source has the radius of r0 and the axis of source is    
Z  H2 Z  H1
coincident with z-axis, the mass, thickness and heat capacity are  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
2 Fo  Fo0 2 Fo  Fo0
neglected.    
(4)The heating rate per unit length of the source, ql, is constant. Z þ H2 Z þ H1
þ erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
(5)For finite model, the temperature of boundary keep constant, 2 Fo  Fo0 2 Fo  Fo0
t0; and the source is buried perpendicular to the boundary from (5)
h1 to h2.
The isothermals of temperature response in the XOZ section and
XOY section are revealed in Fig. 2 according to the calculation and
From what has been mentioned above, the temperature
programming of formula (5).
response in the infinite medium is denoted as:

Zs ZN Z2p 2.3. Combined models

ql
qc;i ¼ ds0 dz0 Gðr; 4 ¼ 0; z ¼ 0; s; r 0 ¼ r0 ; 40 ; z0 ; s0 Þd40
2prc For the theoretical analysis of groundwater flow, on the
0 N 0
assumption that groundwater seeps along x-axis direction, and its
(3)
velocity is u in infinite homogeneous porous medium, the solution
When it comes to temperature response in the finite medium, of relevant heat transfer problem which includes seepage is
the mirror method will be taken into account, that is, there is a equivalent to the key of conduction issue containing mobile heat
suppositional heat sink symmetrical to heat source with ground source. The temperature T (x, h, m) in the coordinates that moves
boundary as in-between interface, so the expression is demon- with a fixed medium, the equation of heat conduction except the
strated as: domain where the heat sources locate [10,11] is indicated as:

Fig. 2. The isothermals on pure conduction model of solid cylindrical heat source.
420 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425

!
vT v2 T v2 T v2 T Considering the effect of finite length of cylindrical heat source,
¼ a þ 2þ 2 (6) we can assume that heat source stretches from h1 to h2 along the z-
vs vx
2 vh vm
axis for finite cylindrical model, the boundary temperature of semi-
If the motionless coordinate is set as (x, y, z), the relevant ex- infinite medium keeps constant, i.e. q ¼ 0. The mirror method is
pressions about two different coordinates are denoted as: used again, the heat sink with intensity ql is set on the symmet-
x ¼ x þ us, y ¼ h, z ¼ m, in view of the equation: T (x, h, m, s) ¼ T (x, y, rical location of heat source with intensity ql, and boundary is seen
z, s), the energy equation is: as the middle interface, the temperature response then becomes:

! Z2p Zs
vt vt v2 t v2 t v2 t ql 0 ds 0
þU ¼ a þ þ (7) qa;f ¼ d4 $exp
vs vx vx2 vy2 vz2 16p k2 ð  s0 Þ
s
0 0
" #
Here U ¼ rc/rwcw, rc is volume specific heat capacity of porous ½x  r0 cos 40  Uðs  s0 Þ2 þ ðy  r0 sin 40 Þ2
 
medium, rwcw is volume specific heat capacity of water, k is coef- 4aðs  s0 Þ
( " # " # (11)
ficient of heat conductivity and u is velocity of groundwater which
z  h1 z  h2
flows along x-direction.  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
On the condition that groundwater flow, the expression of 2 aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ
" # " #)
temperature response in the infinite medium except heat source is z þ h1 z þ h2
equal to the solution of Eq. (7); this equation contains moving heat  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi þ erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ
source [12]. Therefore, the temperature response which is induced
by an instantaneous heat point source located at (x0 , y0, z0 ) and
began to emit heat from s ¼ s0 is shown as: There is no doubt that finite model conforms to the situational
cases of pile geothermal GHEs with groundwater flow; we can set
1 non-dimensional parameters by converting relevant parameters
Mðx;y;z; s;x0 ;y0 ;z0 ; s0 Þ ¼ exp with the purpose of facilitating the analysis process, and the cor-
8½paðs  s0 Þ3=2
( ) responding forms are illustrated as:
½xx0 uðs  s0 Þ2 þðyy0 Þ2 þðzz0 Þ2 Qa,i ¼ kqa,i/ql, X ¼ x/r0, Y ¼ y/r0, S ¼ ur0/a, H1 ¼ h1/r0, H2 ¼ h2/r0,
 
4aðs  s0 Þ Fo ¼ as/r20, Eq. (11) will change to:
(8) Z2p ZFo
1 dFo0
The pre-conditions are the same as cases of pure conduction Qa;f ¼ d40 exp
16p2 ðFo  Fo0 Þ
models plus one additional item, i.e. the groundwater seeps with a 0 0
constant speed u in the whole process. We can suppose the axis ( )
½X  cos 40  SðFo  Fo0 Þ2 þ ðY  sin 40 Þ2
center of cylindrical solid heat source locates at z-axis for the sake  
of simplifying the analysis process, the corresponding conversions
4ðFo  Fo0 Þ (12)


are: x0 ¼ r0cos 40 , y0 ¼ r0sin 40 . The same analysis sequence as that Z  H2 Z  H1

 erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
outlined in Section 2.2 can be adopted; the infinite cylindrical heat 2 Fo  Fo0 2 Fo  Fo0
source with groundwater flow can lead to temperature response in


Z þ H1 Z þ H2
every point of infinite medium except heat source.  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi þ erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 Fo  Fo0 2 Fo  Fo0
For one thing, in order to acquire the value of temperature
response, if we integrate towards infinite cylindrical heat source
The isothermals of temperature response in the XOZ section and
models in the light of s0 at the beginning, the corresponding
XOY section are revealed in Fig. 3 according to the analysis of
equation can be obtained as:
formula (12).

Z2p ZN
ql 1 3. The research on new models
qa;i ¼ d40 dz0 exp
4p5=2 k R
0 N
3.1. The comparison on influence that groundwater exerts on
  ZN ! (9)
Uðxr0 cos 40 Þ U 2 R2 representational locations
 $ exp  j2  dj
2a pffiffiffiffi 16a2 j2
R=ð2 asÞ According to hypotheses mentioned in Section 2.3, the hydraulic
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi gradient of groundwater is coincident with x-axis forward direc-
where R ¼ ðx  r0 cos 40 Þ2 þ ðy  r0 sin 40 Þ2 þ ðz  z0 Þ2 . tion, now that pile GHEs with buried spiral coils are considered as
For another, another integral form can be achieved with respect solid cylindrical heat source, its axis locates at z-axis, the inter-
to integrating z0 in the first instance, the temperature formula is section angle between pole axis of any point and x-axis forward
demonstrated as: direction on the same horizontal plane is supposed to be 4. Judging
from the pre-conditions reported in Section 2.3, on the surface of
Z2p pile GHEs, there are two obvious angles, the one is affected by
ql groundwater with the lightest level, the other is affected by
qa;i ¼ d40 exp
4p2 k groundwater with the greatest level [13], i.e. the angles of 4 ¼ 0 and
0
(10) 4 ¼ p. The reason for this is that groundwater flows through the
  Zs=R  
2
4a
4 ¼ p firstly and then passes the angle of 4 ¼ 0 lastly. It is clear that
Uðx  r0 cos 40 Þ 1 1 u2 R2 h
 $ exp   dh the influences which groundwater exerted on heat transfer process
2a h h 16a2
0 combining conduction and convection are the two obvious in-
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi stances. If the cylindrical coordinate is adopted, the polar radius
where R ¼ ðx  r0 cos 40 Þ2 þ ðy  r0 sin 40 Þ2 . and angle of any point are set as r and 4 separately, the radius of
 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425 421

Fig. 3. The isothermals on solid cylindrical heat source model with groundwater flow.

cylindrical source is r0, the dimensionless polar radius RL ¼ r/r0; it is
obvious that all the points locate at 4 ¼ 0 on the surface of source
are in possession of RL ¼ 1.0, meanwhile, the points with 4 ¼ p on
the surface of source are provided with RL ¼ 1.0. It is necessary to
work over temperature response along z-axis on the surface when
RL ¼ 1.0 and RL ¼ 1.0 on the premise of different time and velocity
of groundwater flow. The finite cylindrical model can be taken into
account in order to get ready for future actual engineering projects.
First of all, let us observe the temperature response in the case
of RL ¼ 1.0 on the basis of content mentioned above, the
dimensionless temperature Q can be chosen by way of simpli-
fying calculation and investigation. The temperature response is
exhibited in Fig. 4.
As well as this, the temperature response distribution when
RL ¼ 1.0 can be achieved by means of similar method as the case of
RL ¼ 1.0, the figures are demonstrated as follows:
By analyzing the thermal response of two angles 4 ¼ 0 and
4 ¼ p, the convection between groundwater and pile GHEs should
not be neglected, this is due to the fact that groundwater plays an
important role on the heat exchange process. Through the obser-
vation concerning Figs. 4 and 5, the locations acutely affected by
groundwater show evident temperature alleviation, which dem-
onstrates that convection improves the heat exchange efficiency
and it takes away the heat accumulated near the heat source; this
ensures that the temperature difference is maintained at a certain
level so that heat can transmit expediently from the source to the
surrounding medium. It may be briefly summed up that temper-
ature response under the condition of convection presents more
and more clear trend with the continuance of time when
groundwater velocity keeps constant, or if the time is constant, the
affection will become evident gradually with the increase of
velocity.
3.2. The discussion on temperature response of combined models
Some scholars or experts have investigated the heat exchange
case on pure conduction models of solid cylindrical source,
including infinite and finite situations [7,11], it is well known that
its length to radius ratio exerts a great influence on the temper-
ature response of pile foundation GHEs. We cannot ignore the fact
that temperature response will tend to be stable for finite model
and response increases until infinity as time goes on for infinite
model. However, the heat transfer process becomes more intricate
owning to the existence of groundwater seeps. In short, ground-
water carries out the heat balance to some extent as the days goes
by. The heat transfer analysis on combined models including

Fig. 4. The isothermals along z-axis at dissimilar time and velocity when 4 ¼ 0.
422 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425

Fig. 5. The isothermals along z-axis at dissimilar time and velocity when 4 ¼ p.

conduction and advection is meaningful because we can under- The non-dimensional parameters [16] are instructive and
stand the temperature response in the underground medium. The meaningful to the convenience of analysis of percolation models.
procedure is on the basis of infinite case and finite case step by Similar manner is applied to list excess temperature expression
step. of finite model, its thermal response formula for any point in the
The excess temperature of infinite combined solid cylindrical medium except heat source has been found in Section 2.3, the
heat source models is expressed as: influence which length to radius ratio exerts on temperature
Z2p response should not be neglected with a view to z-direction intro-
ql duction, which means that the problem will be involved in three-
qa;i ¼ d40 exp
4p2 k dimensional research. Simply put, the mean value of excess tem-
0 perature in the peripheral surface of pile GHEs at XOY cross-section
(13)
  4aZs=R  
2
while z adopts different value, its expression is given in Eq. (16) on
Uðx r0 cos 40 Þ 1 1 U 2 R2 h
 $ exp   dh the basis of transformation of two coordinate systems,
2a h h 16a2
0

The temperature distribution is not symmetrical on both Z2p Z2p Z s

ql 0 d4ds0
sides of z-axis as a result of convection of groundwater; it is qp;a;f ¼ df $exp
16p2 k$2p ðs  s0 Þ
reasonable that excess temperature adapt mean value by means 0 0 0
of integral. Seeing that infinite case does not consider the "
2  2 #
r0 cos4r0 cos f0 Uðs  s0 Þ þ r0 sin4r0 sin f0
z-direction effect and the whole problem is taken into account  
as a two-dimensional model, any point location in the periph- 4aðs  s0 Þ
( " # " #
eral surface of pile GHEs in the coordinate system is depicted zh1 zh2
as: x ¼ r0cos 4, y ¼ r0cos 4; this is a translation between two  erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ffi erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
2 aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ
different coordinates. Thereby, the expression on thermal " # " #)
response should be acquired through critical integral based on zþh1 zþh2
erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi þerfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
the formulas above and the detailed circumstance is exhibited 2 aðs  s0 Þ 2 aðs  s0 Þ
by Eq. (14):
(16)

2
4as=½ðr0 cos fr0 cos 40 Þ þðr0 sin fr0 sin 40 Þ
2
Z2p Z2p   Z
q Uðr0 cos f r0 cos 40 Þ 1
qp;a;i ¼ 2 l d40 exp $ exp
4p k$2p 2a h
0 0 0 (14)
" h i
0 2 #
1 U ðr0 cos f r0 cos 4 Þ þðr0 sin f r0 sin 4 Þ h
2 0 2
   dfdh
h 16a2

Considering complexity of Eq. (14) for a number of parameters, it is

necessary to introduce non-dimensional factors [14,15] as the same as
those shown in Section 3.1, wherefore, Eq. (14) is simplified as:

4Fo=½ðcos fcos 40 Þ þðsin fsin 40 Þ 

2 2
Z2p Z2p   Z
1 0 Sðcos f  cos 40 Þ 1
Qp;a;i ¼ d4 exp $ exp
8p3 2 h
0
h
0
i
0 (15)
" 0 2 #
1 S ðcos f  cos 4 Þ þ ðsin f  sin 4 Þ h
2 0 2
   df dh
h 16
 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425 423

Equation (16) will be reduced to Eq. (17) in respect that non-

dimensional parameters are applied, the expression is described as:

Z2p Z2p ZFo

1 0 dFo0
Qa;f ¼ d4 df exp
16p2 $2p ðFoFo0 Þ
0 0 0
( )
½cos f cos40 SðFoFo0 Þ2 þðsin f sin40 Þ2
 
4ðFoFo0 Þ (17)


Z H2 Z H1
 erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ffi erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
2 FoFo0 2 FoFo0



Z þH1 Z þH2
erfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi þerfc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
2 FoFo0 2 FoFo0
The two expressions above are the most novel analytical solu-
tions of temperature response of solid cylindrical heat source when
there exists the reality of groundwater flow; we can define the
middle depth of pile GHEs as typical analysis object in order to
make the location representative considering the different values of
z. In consideration of the fact that pile GHEs are disposed perpen- Fig. 7. The temperature response curves with time at different velocity when h/r0
dicular to boundary from h1 to h2, the middle location is expressed keeps invariable.
as: hmiddle ¼ h1 þ h/2, and the corresponding non-dimensional
alteration is: Hmiddle ¼ H1 þ H/2. Now that expressions for infinite
According to Fig. 7, we can safely conclude that non-dimensional
case and finite case are both shown, the following investigation can
temperature will drop with the increase of water flow velocity;
work over the temperature response trend with the continuance
heat convection will greatly relieve the heat accumulation when
of time while seepage velocity keeps constant, here the value
the velocity attains a certain order of magnitude. It will be seen
of velocity can be set as 1.0. The calling of function relies on pro-
from this that the importance of investigating the combined
gramming software, the relevant curves are laid out in Fig. 6:
models is obvious.
The curves narrate the thermal response of combined heat
transfer models, no matter for infinite case or finite case; the
thermal response will be inclined to steady state due to the exis- 4. The comparison between pure conduction models and
tence of groundwater seepage. As for finite model, the greater the combined models
length to radius ratio, the longer the time that temperature
response needs to attain a steady state; furthermore, the final The paper lays emphasis on groundwater flow and gains explicit
response value becomes higher and higher gradually with the in- analytical solutions for combined models; it is necessary to
crease of length to radius ratio. In addition, the intensity of con- compare the differences between pure conduction case and com-
vection efficient rests with the velocity value of groundwater bined case so that the impact of groundwater can be embodied
transfusion, it is thus reasonable and justified to study heat fully. The finite models are taken into account allowing for actual
exchange status in the context of velocity with variable value when situations especially in terms of engineering projects. It is signifi-
length to radius ratio is invariable in the whole process; here we cant to implement discussion and investigation aiming at these two
can select the case of h/r0 ¼ 10 and other cases are still feasible. cases, the correlative calculation and programming process are
The temperature response trend is brought forth in Fig. 7: based on equations appeared above. The temperature distribution
is symmetrical because there is no effect of groundwater for pure
conduction models; we need to integrate along circumference of
pile GHEs at XOY section while z adopts different value for com-
bined models. Thereby, formulas (12) and (17) are under consid-
eration and the integral should be carried out again along the depth
direction if we want to master the whole mean thermal response
situation; this will make the calculation and analysis more com-
plex; the weighted average method rather than integral method
along the depth of pile GHEs was employed, i.e, a number of loca-
tions when z adopts different values in the out verge of pile GHEs
were chosen, and at last acquired their mean value; the average
thermal response along the depth is represented as:

X
n
Qave ¼ Qi =n (18)
i

The sign Qi denotes the mean dimensionless temperature at

Fig. 6. The temperature response curves with time at different h/r0 when seepage
velocity is constant.
selective positions along the depth of pile GHEs for whether it is
pure conduction models or combined models. The dimensionless
temperature ratio of two models can directly reflect the influence of
groundwater flow and the ratio changes with time though h/r0
selects different number; the changing trend when velocity keeps
constant is shown in Fig. 8:
424 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425
Fig. 8. The curves on temperature response ratio of two cases with time.
The most concerned issue is the enhanced degree of heat
exchange quantity while groundwater flow exists. For the heat
exchange quantity per meter pile GHEs, the relevant mathematical
formula is shown as:
qave ¼ Cp *ðTin  Tout Þ*Qflow =ð h2  h1 Þ (19)
Here, Tin and Tout are the inlet temperature and outlet temperature
respectively of circulating fluid which flows through the heat
transfer spiral tube inside pile foundation, Cp and Qflow are the
specific heat capacity and the rate of flow respectively.
Under the premise of same excess temperatures of two models,
the heat exchange quantity ratios can be acquired. We can observe
the heat exchange superiority according to the relevant formulas.
For different length to radius ratio cases, the difference on heat
transfer advantage as a result of groundwater flow is little in a short
time, but this kind of distinction is gradually reflected with the
passage of time; the larger the length to radius ratio, the clearer the
heat transfer superiority. As stated in Section 3.2, the convection
velocity is a critical factor to affect the heat exchange in the running
Fig. 9. The curves on per meter heat exchange quantity ratio of two cases with time.
Fig. 10. The curves on temperature response ratio of two cases with velocity.
process of pile GHEs and groundwater carries off the heat accu-
mulation around pile GHEs; similar analysis methods as shown in
Figs. 8 and 9 are put to use, i.e. the non-dimensional temperature
ratio and heat exchange quantity ratio can vary with velocity at the
same time, and the detailed changing trends are illustrated in
Fig. 10 for non-dimensional temperature ratio and Fig. 11 for heat
exchange quantity ratio.
The heat transfer superiority is incarnated inch by inch with the
increase of flow velocity, especially more evident when length to
radius ratio is larger. The meaning of groundwater flow is depicted
clearly thanks to the analysis and relevant graphs especially when
time is long enough and velocity attains a certain extent; it is uni-
versally acknowledged that groundwater is not only significant for
academic research but also economic for engineering projects, the
groundwater flow can strengthen heat exchange quantity between
pile GHEs and surrounding medium and then take on more air-
conditioning load [17e19]. The solid cylindrical heat source seepage
model can be validated based on the comparison with pure conduc-
tion model and other former models and some engineering projects.
Fig. 11. The curves on per meter heat exchange quantity ratio of two cases with
velocity.
 W. Zhang et al. / Energy 55 (2013) 417e425
5. Conclusions
This paper reports a solid cylindrical simulation model on the
heat conduction and convection of foundation pile ground heat
exchangers, the analytical solutions are acquired based on the en-
ergy equation and Green function. The detailed thermal response in
the medium around the pile GHEs is investigated, which indicates
that seepage models are stable even for infinite case as a result of
groundwater flow. The groundwater seepage can alleviate the heat
accumulation around pile ground heat exchangers, it can improve
heat exchange performance and even get heat transfer quantity
per meter pile GHEs to 4 or 5 times or higher than case of pure
conduction. There is a belief that the significance of learning or
investigating groundwater flow is obvious and great for as much as
contribution to scholarly study and engineering projects.
Acknowledgement
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant
from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Z02T) and partially
supported by a grant from The Hong Kong RGC General Research
Fund (RGC No.: PolyU 5183/12E).
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