See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/309613145

CFD Based Study on an Earth Pipe Heat Exchanger With Different Pipe
Geometries

Conference Paper · June 2016

DOI: 10.1115/ES2016-59234

CITATIONS READS
0 986

3 authors, including:

Aashish Sharma Ketan Ajay

Lovely Professional University Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
19 PUBLICATIONS   686 CITATIONS    17 PUBLICATIONS   58 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Ground coupled heat exchanger View project

Microchannel Heat Sink View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Aashish Sharma on 14 April 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Proceedings of the ASME 2016 10th International Conference on Energy Sustainability
ES2016
June 26-30, 2016, Charlotte, North Carolina

ES2016-59234

CFD BASED STUDY ON AN EARTH PIPE HEAT EXCHANGER WITH DIFFERENT

PIPE GEOMETRIES

Shashank Srivastava Aashish Sharma Ketan Ajay

Lovely Professional University Lovely Professional University Lovely Professional University
Phagwara, Punjab, India Phagwara, Punjab, India Phagwara, Punjab, India

ABSTRACT industries but also for comfort of the occupants. Consequently,

Heating and cooling is a prime need for various day to day
operations and one of the most basic requirements is space
conditioning. A huge amount of energy all across the globe is
being used for this purpose using various conventional & non-
conventional energy based resources. But environmental
problems, fast depletion nature and high prices associated with
the use of conventional energy sources is becoming a big
problem, due to which promotion of non-conventional energy
sources becomes important. The use of an in-ground heat
exchanger is a unique technique for space conditioning with
reduced energy consumption. A lot of research and studies have
been done on the design of such systems. This paper presents a
study based on the CFD modelling and simulation to analyze
the effect on the effective performance of the system by varying
the geometry of ducts and using the extended surface to
increase the heat transfer rate. Also, a comparative study of
performance of earth tube heat exchanger for different cross
section of ducts is also presented.
INTRODUCTION
Energy has always been a matter of concern for the world.
A large amount of resources are being consumed for the
purpose which is leading to the path of global energy crisis.
Today it becomes very important to explore new technology or
to improve the existing means of energy conservation. Primarily
most of the energy is being consumed by the populace to
maintain livable climatic conditions of their dwellings. It has
become one of the basic needs of this era, not only limited to
a huge amount of energy is being consumed for space
conditioning. This can be accomplished by vapor compression
systems, but due to the depletion of ozone layer and global
warming by various refrigerants like Chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) etc. it becomes important to explore sustainable
technologies for space conditioning. Methods like in-ground
heat exchangers or earth-tube heat exchangers are an effective
solution to conserve energy consumed in space conditioning.
This way is not only energy efficient but will also reduce GHG
emission to the atmosphere and reduce high grade energy
consumption for space conditioning. Earth tube heat exchanger
is a passive heating/cooling technique having a vast application
not only limited to domestic use but also agricultural and
industrial use. But still a lot of improvements in the design of
these systems are yet to be done in order to make these systems
capture ground.
The concept of earth tube exchanger is not new, they have
been in use for years in various countries as these systems are
more energy efficient than conventional heating and cooling
systems. The earth tube heat exchanger is based on a simple
concept that the earth can be used as a heat source/sink
throughout the year. As clear from the name a specially
designed heat exchanger is buried into the deep earth for this
purpose. The basic principle is that as going deep into the earth
the effect of atmospheric temperature variation starts to vanish.
This effect is utilized in earth-tube heat exchangers and the
earth acts as a medium for heat addition or rejection. The air
from the space is circulated from specially designed tubes

1 Copyright © 2016 by ASME

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/ on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo

 installed into the earth. In summers when the atmospheric
temperature is comparatively higher, then the earth acts as a
heat sump. Similarly, in winters as heat source where the air
gets warmed up and pumped back into the space.
Basically the earth tube heat exchangers can be classified
into two broad categories i.e. open loop system and closed loop
system. In an open loop system (Fig. 1) fresh air from the
atmosphere flows through the pipe to ventilate the building
whereas in a closed loop system (Fig. 2) the air from the
building is recirculated though the earth tube heat exchangers.
However, the closed loop system is generally not preferred,
probably because it is difficult to meet the building’s fresh air
requirement.
The earth-tube heat exchanger are still not able to capture
ground due to their poor performance. Its performance is based
on various factors like varied inlet temperature due to seasonal
variations, moisture distribution in the ground, type of soil, tube
design and various other factors.
Though various studies have been done on various
parameters affecting the performance of these earth-tube heat
exchangers however there are many other parameters (which
cannot be controlled) like varied inlet temperature due to
seasonal variation, type of soil etc. are also important to analyze
their performance. The geometry of the tube and duct is also an
important factor which governs the performance of earth pipe
heat exchanger. In this study the performance of the earth-tube
heat exchanger is studied by varying the tube/duct geometry
using a 3-D model based on computational fluid dynamics
(CFD).
The concept of earth-tube heat exchangers is not new. Wind
towers and underground air tunnels for passive cooling were
used in Iran, long back in about 3000 B.C. [2, 3]. Those
underground air tunnels are now known as earth-tube heat
exchanger or in-ground heat exchanger. These systems capture
heat or dissipate heat to the earth and they use the earth’s
constant temperature to cool or warm the air which flows
through the tubes from the building. The thermal potential of
the earth can be utilized for heating or cooling of buildings.
Ongoing down deep in the earth i.e. below the earth surface the
seasonal temperature variations starts to vanish. It is found that
2 Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/ on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo
the temperature at about 1.5-2 m below the earth surface
remains almost constant throughout the year [4-5].
Earth-tube heat exchangers have been in used in areas like
animal houses and horticulture facilities over past several
decades in North America. These systems are very common in
European and Indian subcontinent region. Countries like
Austria, Denmark, Germany and India are widely implementing
these systems from the mid-1990s.
There is a very gentle growth in the execution of renewable
sources of energy but earth-tube heat exchangers have
experienced a very swift growth with a 10% growth in the
number of installations in about 30 countries over the last 12
years [6]. Till 2001, about 1000 passive house units have been
built in Germany and value doubles every year and in Europe,
more than 5000 passive house units have been successfully built
[7-8]. A notable European development in the frame was the
adoption of Directive 2002/91/EC [9]. Following the directive
member states are gradually applying minimum requirements on
the energy performance of new building and large existing
buildings that are subject to major renovation. Energy
certification of buildings is based on the above as well as the
regular inspection of heating, ventilation and air conditioning
systems [10-11].
The major benefits of the earth-tube heat exchangers are its
simple construction, low operational cost, clean energy and low
maintenance. The only issue is its comparatively low
performance. The energy performance of the earth-tube heat
exchangers is recounted by the heat transmitted by the moving
fluid (air) to the pipe, diffusivity of soil, thermal interaction of
heat conduction in soil and change in the air temperature and
humidity. Various parameters and numerical models for the
earth- tube heat exchanger system have been studied till date.
Numerous calculation models for ground coupled heat
exchangers are found. Tzaferis et al. studied eight models [12].
The concurrence with measurements done by Tzaferis et al. is
quite robust. This exhibits that a steady state one-dimensional
model may characterize the behavior of the earth-air heat
exchangers.
 Svec et al. [1] studied heat flow of fluid flowing in plastic pipes
buried in clay soil and it was found that heat flow is reduced
with plastic pipe and heat flow measurements get affected by
including contact resistance. For low conductivity plastic pipes
a drop of 34% in heat flux is observed as compared to steel
pipes and with the inclusion of contact resistance 15% heat flux
is reduced.
Wu et al. [13] developed a transient and implicit based on
numerical heat transfer and computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) and then executed the model on PHOENICS CDF
platform to analyze the effects of operating parameters like pipe
length, radius, depth, mass flow rate of air on the thermal
performance and cooling capacity of the earth-air pipe system.
Bhutta et al. [14] presented a very functional review on the
application of CFD to analyze heat exchangers. It concluded
that CFD is a very productive tool for predicting the behavior
and performance of an extensive variety of heat exchangers.
CFD Modelling and simulation
Experiments are expensive, rigid, and cannot be performed
under certain circumstances, which made (CFD) as a pioneer
technology for application in a various research areas.
Measurements with probes provide point data whereas CFD
provides a continuous data stream which depicts a more clear
view of the problem for analysis. CFD simulations were done in
order to study air flow behavior in the earth tube heat exchanger
for the given boundary conditions. The main objective of CFD
in this study will be to get the temperature contours for varied
pipe/duct geometry.
Assumptions
In order to conduct any experiment or study certain assumptions
are to be made. In this study also certain level of numerical
3 Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/ on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo
approximation and some assumptions were made during the
development of CFD model. To understand the application and
the limitations of the model, assumptions must be taken into
account. The following assumptions were considered in the
CFD modelling of the earth-tube heat exchanger system:
 The soil temperature around the pipe is taken
to be 291 K.
 The soil composition is uniform all over the
pipe section.
 The temperature on the surface of the pipe is
uniform because the temperature of the soil
surrounding the soil is uniform.
 The inlet velocity of air is constant
Geometry
Geometry plays a key role on heat transfer. The parameters
like total surface area, heat transfer coefficient depend on the
geometry of the pipe/duct. The paper is based on the study on
the performance of the earth-tube heat exchangers by varying
the pipe/duct geometry. In the paper the study is confined to
three geometries viz. circular, square and corrugated circular.
For analysis the length of each pipe section is taken to be 1 m
and all pipes have same hydraulic diameter. The different
geometries of the pipes were designed on ANSYS platform.
Circular geometry:
This is the most simple and conventional geometry. Circular
pipes are used in most of the in-ground heat exchangers. The
length, outer diameter and inner diameter are 1000 mm, 160
mm and 140 mm respectively (Fig 3).

Fig 3: Circular geometry
Square Geometry
Square pipe is generally not preferred for earth tube heat
exchangers. The square geometry was also studied in order to
analyze its performance as earth tubes. The length and side of
the square pipe are 1000 mm and 140 mm respectively (Fig 4).
Fig 4: Square geometry
4 Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/ on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo
Corrugated – circular geometry
A special pipe was designed in order to provide higher heat
transfer rates than conventional pipes. In this pipe geometry
internal corrugations were introduced in order to increase the
surface area which will in turn increase the heat transfer. The
length and outer diameter of the pipe are 1000 mm and 160 mm
respectively.
Figure 5 shows the corrugation geometry. The curved face
makes the inner boundary of the pipe. The length of the above
shown section is 10 mm and as explained earlier all the pipes
are of same length i.e. 1 m, so the corrugated pipe will be
having 100 such sections. These corrugations will not only
increase the surface area but will also help in the eddy
formations. As the air flows through the pipe, the velocity of the
air flowing from the center of the pipe and the velocity of air
flowing overt these sections will vary due to which eddy will be
formed which will in turn enhance the heat transfer rate.
Materials
The system comprises of two elements i.e. pipe and the fluid
which flows through the pipe. The material of the pipe is taken
as aluminum and the fluid in this case is air. The properties of
both are listed in Table 1.
Meshing of Models
The CFD modelling is basically used to get the values of air
properties at large number of points. These points are generally
connected together in the form of numerical grid or mesh. The
mesh elements are of various shapes like tetrahedral,
polyhedral, pyramid etc. Table 2 depicts a detailed mesh
information of all the three sections.
 Modelling of earth-tube heat exchanger system
Thermal model of the earth tube heat exchanger was developed
in ANSYS Design Modeler and the mesh was created in
ANSYS ICEM CFD. The CFD simulations were executed
considering 3-dimensional steady state, turbulent flow (k-
epsilon model) enabling heat transfer and thermal energy.
Boundary conditions
The following boundary conditions were implemented in the
CFD simulation analysis of the earth tube heat exchanger
system. The boundary conditions for all the three designs were
same.
Inlet boundary conditions
At inlet of the earth tube heat exchanger subsonic flow regime
with medium turbulence is taken. The inlet air flow temperature
is taken to be 313.15 K. The air velocity at the inlet is taken as
8 m/s. The thermodynamic properties of air like dynamic
viscosity and thermal conductivity were defined at the inlet air
temperature.
Outlet boundary conditions
In the subsonic flow regime, the relative pressure at the outlet
of the earth tube heat exchanger was taken to be zero atm.
Wall
The area along the length of the earth tubes was defined where
the air temperature was needed to be recorded. The temperature
of the wall was uniform in the axial direction and was taken to
be 291 K.
5 Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/ on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo
The fundamental equations of fluid flow and heat transfer have
been used in the analysis. The primary objective of the CFD
modelling was to effect of the operating parameters like mass
flow rate, diameter of pipe and temperature of soil.
Simulation results
The simulation results obtained from the CFD model of the
earth-tube heat exchanger system for different geometries are
presented in this section and their analysis has been done.
The study was conducted on 3 different geometries of the
pipe/duct section. A length of 1 m of the pipe section was
considered for the modelling and analysis of the system because
the total length of the pipe to be used in EAHE will depend on
the factors like region and the total space to be cooled. The
hydraulic diameter of each section was kept equal for proper
comparison of the geometries. The other parameters like air
velocity, soil temperature and the material of the sections were
also kept same.
Fig 6: Temperature Contour of circular section
 Fig 7: Temperature Contour of square section
Fig 9: Temperature distribution along the length of EAHE

The superior performance of the corrugated pipe can be

observed clearly from the Fig. 9.

Fig 8: Temperature Contour of corrugated section

The temperature contours of the circular section, square section

Fig 10: Pressure distribution along length of EAHE
and the corrugated circular section are shown in Fig 6-8. In all
the above three cases the inlet temperature is same i.e. 313.15K.
Fig.10 shows the comparative pressure drop in the three pipes
But the output temperature in all the three cases is different. It is
along the length of earth air heat exchanger.
also evident from the Fig. 9 that the temperature drop in the
corrugated circular section is higher than that of the circular and
Conclusion
square section.
Performance of earth tube heat exchanger model based on CFD
modeling and simulation for different geometries of the
pipe/duct is evaluated. It was observed that the cooling potential
of the earth tube heat exchanger increased, this was due to
increased internal surface area and eddy formations caused by
the corrugation geometry. It is definite that if we work in this
direction, a much better performance can be achieved for
existing EAHEs.

6 Copyright © 2016 by ASME

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/ on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo

 References
1. Svec O.J., Goodrich L. E. and Palmer J.H.L., Heat
Transfer Characteristics of In-Ground Heat
Exchangers, Energy Research 7, 1983, 265-278.
2. Scott NR, Parsons RA, Kochler TA. Analysis and
performance of an earth-air heat exchanger. ASAE
Paper No. 65-840, 1965
3. Goswami DY, Ileslamlou S. Performance analysis of a
closed loop climate control system using underground
air tunnel. Journal of solar energy engineering 1990;
112:76-81
4. S.S Bhardwaj, N.K Bansal. Temperature variation
inside the ground for various surface conditions.
Building and environment 10(3)(1981)183-192
5. C.P. Jacovides, G. Mihalakakou, M. Santamouris, J.O.
Lewis. On the ground temperature profile for passive
cooling application in buildings. Solar Energy 57(3)
(1996) 167-175
6. Lund J, Sanner B, Rybach L, Curtis G, Hellstrom G.
Geothermal (ground source) heat pumps- a world
overview, GHC Bulletin, September 2004.
7. Hubner H, Hermelink A. mieter im passivhaus-
nutzungsorientierte gestaltungals voraussetzung
funachhaltiges wohenen. In: Schrader U, Hansen U,
editors. Nachhaltiger Konsum. Frankfurt, Germany:
campus Forschung; 2001.p.137-148 [in German].
7 Copyright © 2016 by ASME
DownloadedViewFrom:
publicationhttp://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/90150/
stats
8. Bedescu V. Economic aspect of using ground thermal
energy for passive house heating. Renewable energy
2007; 32:895-903.
9. NN, Directive 2002/91/EC. 2002
10. L. Ozgener. A review on experimental and analytical
analysis of earth to air heat exchanger (EAHE) systems
in Turkey. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews
15(2011)4483-4490
11. Zogou O, Stamatelos A. Application of building
energy simulation in sizing and design of and office
building and its HVAC equipment (chapter 11). In:
Joseph BU, Editor. Energy and building efficiency, Air
quality and conservation. USA: Nova publishers,
Inc;2009, ISBN 978-1-60741-049-2.p.279-324
12. Tzaferis A, LIParakis D, Santamouris M, Argiriou a.
Analysis of accuracy and sensitivity of eight models to
predict the performance of earth to air heat
exchangers. Energy and buildings 1992; 18:35-43
13. Wu H, Wang S, Zhu D. Modelling and evaluation of
cooling capacity of earth air pipe systems. Energy
conservation and management 2007; 48: 1462-71
14. Aslam Bhutt Muhammad Mahmood, Hayat Nasir,
Hassam Bashir Muhammad, Rais Khan Ahmer,
Naveed Ahmed Kanvar, Sarfaraz Khan. CFD
application in various heat exchanger design: a review.
Applied Thermal Engineering: 2012; 32:1-12.
on 01/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/abo