1.

Horizontal Ground Heat Exchanger Design for Ground-Coupled Heat

Pumps

S.A. M. Said, M .A. Habib, E.M.A. Mokheimer, N. Al-Shayea and M. Sharqawi

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Dhahran Saudi Arabia
E-mail: samsaid@kfupm.edu.sa

Abstract: Ground-source heat pump (GSHP) is used as an all inclusive term for a variety of
systems that use the ground, ground water and surface water as a heat source and sink. There are
several examples of various types of GSHPs which are subdivided into ground-coupled heat pumps
(GCHPs), ground water heat pumps (GWHPs) and surface water heat pumps (SWHPs). GCHPs
are further subdivided according to ground heat exchanger design: vertical, horizontal or slinky
coil. In the present study, a simplified model is proposed to model the heat transfer from the
underground buried horizontal heat exchanger pipes. The model simulates the heat transfer
between the water flowing inside the buried pipes to the surrounding soil of the ground taking into
account the surface temperature of the ground, the thermal properties of the soil, the distance
between the pipes in each borehole and the distances between the boreholes. The model is used to
predict the required surface area of the GHX, the lengths of the pipes, the number of boreholes,
and the possible different configurations. The Model also account for the pumping power required
to circulate the water through the GHX. The results indicate that the change of the ground
temperature from one location to another has a significant effect on the overall pipe length and the
pump power decreases sharply if the number of parallel loops is increased at the same condition
and the same total pipe length.

Keywords: Design, Horizontal, Ground Heat Exchanger

1. Introduction do not require the unit to be located where it

Ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs), often
referred to as geothermal heat pumps
(GHPs), are recognized to be outstanding
heating, cooling, and water-heating systems.
They provide high levels of comfort, offer
significant reductions of electrical energy
use and demand, have very low, levels of
maintenance requirements, and are
environmentally attractive. Geothermal heat
pumps have several advantages over air-
source heat pumps as: (a) they consume less
energy to operate. (b) They tap the earth or
groundwater, a more stable energy source
than air. (c) They do not require
supplemental heat during extreme low
outside temperature. (d) They use less
refrigerant. (e) They have a simpler design
and consequently less maintenance. (f) They
is exposed to weathering. Their main
disadvantage is high initial capital cost. The
worldwide application of geothermal energy
for direct utilization was reviewed by Lund
and Freeston (2005). The authors provided
an update to the previous survey carried out
in 1995 (Freeston, 1995). An effort was
made to quantify geothermal heat pump data
and the investment in geothermal energy
development. Contributions were received
from 60 countries, of which 55 reported
some form of geothermal direct utilization.
The distribution by category of the thermal
energy of installed thermal power used is
approximately 42 % for bathing and
swimming pool heating, 23% for space
heating, 12% for geothermal heat pumps, 9%
for greenhouse heating, 6% for aquaculture
pond and raceway heating, 5% for industrial
applications, 2% for other uses, and less than
1 % each for agricultural drying, snow
melting, and air conditioning. Hepbasli
(2002) summarized the cooling performance
of a ground-source heat pump system which
was installed in a 65-m2 room in the Solar
Energy Institute, Ege University, Izmir (568
degree-days cooling, base:22oC ; 1226
degree-days heating. base: 18oC) Turkey.
The heating and cooling loads of the room
were, respectively, 3.8 and 4.2 kW at design
conditions. Hepbasli et al. [2003]
investigated the performance characteristics
of a GSHP heating system experimentally.
The system used R-22 as the refrigerant and
a 50 m vertical 1 1/4 inch nominal diameter
U-bend ground heat exchanger. The GSHP
system was installed in a 65 m2 room. Utlu
and Hepbasli [2003] reported that utilization
of geothermal energy and exergy in the
Turkish residential-commercial sector is
about 1-98% and 0.59% respectively out of
the total energy and exergy utilization.
Ramamoorthy et al. (2001) presented a
system simulation approach for optimal
sizing of hybrid ground-source heat pump
systems that use a cooling pond as a
supplemental heat rejecter. A number of
vendors have developed computer software
to automate the calculations involved in
sizing the ground heat exchangers. These
softwares are now generally accurate; but
because of a lack of confidence in the
software, many system designers continue to
rely on traditional rules of thumb, such as
150 bore feet per ton of cooling capacity
installed. In most cases, this leads to
oversized ground loops and a more costly
installation. Hepbasli and Akdemir [2004]
performed energy and exergy analysis for a
GSHP system with a 50 m vertical 1.25 inch
nominal diameter U-bend ground heat
exchanger. Collins et al. (2002) produced a
geothermal heat pump manual that includes
very useful information about the operational
and benefits analysis of GHP in addition to
the important definitions in this field. More
literature on the subject is sighted in Said et
al (2007).
The literature review has indicated the
potential of GHPS. Saudi Arabia being a hot
place with low underground temperature
levels provides a potential for application of
GHPS.
2
2. Design of a Ground-Source Heat
Pump
For small heat load applications,
horizontal heat exchangers shallowly
situated under ground and vertical heat
exchangers of rather small depth are
used. Increasing the vertical heat
exchanger depth makes it possible to
exchange more heat. The depth setting
highly influences the choice of a heat
pump and its efficiency.
In the horizontal mode of the earth-
coupled system, pipes are buried in
trenches spaced a minimum of 5 feet (1.5
m) apart and from 4 to 6 feet deep (1.2 –
2m). This allows for minimum thermal
interference between pipes; however, this
system is affected by solar radiation.
Solar radiation will affect the earth to a
depth of about 30 feet, causing a cycling
of soil temperatures, that lags in time and
decreases with depth due to the
insulating properties of the soil (Figure
30); however, the temperature is much
more stable than for air-source units.
Moist soil will have greater temperature
swings than dry soil. The loops can be
placed in a double layer as shown in
Figures 1 and 2. The ground temperature
in the first approximate 100 m is well
suited for supply and storage of thermal
energy. The climatic temperature change
over the seasons is reduced to a steady
temperature at 10-20 m depth and with
further depth the temperature increases
according to the geothermal gradient
(average 3 °C for each 100 m of depth).
 Therefore, the necessary information for
complex analysis is usually unavailable. A
more prudent design approach is to apply
empirical data to a simple solution of heated
or cooled pipes place in the ground. It should
be noted that design of horizontal loops,
buried in trenches 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 m)
deep, are heavily influence by solar radiation
and the number of loops in each trench.
Since the solar radiation is difficult to
quantify, no design methods are available for
horizontal loops.

4. Basics of the Design

Figure 1: Horizontal loop ground heat Knowing the heat pump capacity (QL),
entering water temperature (EWT), water
exchangers flow rate (GPM) and the Energy Efficiency
Ratio (EER) or COP , the heat exchanger
load (QH) and the water temperature
difference (Tw-in , Tw-out) can be
determined by:

QL
COP =
Q H − QL (1)

(
QH = mw0 × cw × TWout − TWin ) (2)

Assuming a horizontal pipe of inside

diameter Di and outside diameter Do buried
at a depth d from the ground surface as
shown in figure 3, The thermal resistances
per pipe length of the water convection, pipe
conduction and ground soil conduction are as
follows,

Rtotal = Rconv + R pipe + Rsoil

(3)
Figure 2: Typical horizontal ground heat
Where,
exchangers
1
Rconv =
πDi hw (4)
3. Ground Heat Exchanger Design
 Do 
ln  
The design of ground heat exchangers is
 D i 
complicated by the variety of geological R =
2 π k pipe
pipe

formations and properties that affect thermal (5)

performance. Proper identification of
materials, moisture content, and water 1
movement is an involved process and cannot Rsoil = (6)
be economically justified for every project. S k soil

3
S is the conduction shape factor of the pipe θw  −x 
given as ( Incropera and DeWitt-2002): = Exp o 
θ w _ out  mw cw Rtotal  (10)
2π
S=
   θ w _ in 
( )
2
2d   2d 
ln  +   − 1 L = m wo c w Rtotal ln  (11)
 Do   Do   θ 
   w _ out 
(7)

The water properties are evaluated at the A computer program is developed to

average water temperature because the perform the calculations using
variations are not significant. The heat Engineering Equation Solver (EES)
transfer coefficient hw is evaluated by using software. The program calculates the
the following Nusselt Number correlation: required tube length of a horizontal
geothermal heat exchanger, based on the
 ρVDi 
0.8
conduction model described above and
h D
Nu = w i = 0.023   (Pr )0.3 the required circulating pump power. The
k  µ  (8) software has the capability of considering
different closed loop pipe configuration
Performing an energy balance on the (series or parallel) as shown in figure 5
differential element dx shown in figure 4, as well as the required field area based on
the differential heat transfer is given as: the recommended limited distances
between pipes.
Twx − T g
dq = − m wo c w dT w = dx
R total

x
θ w = Tw − Tg X =
m wo c w R total
Let and

Hence, the differential heat transfer equation

can be written as :

dθ w
= θw
dX (9)

B.C.1:
Figure 3: Co-ordinate system
At x =0⇒X =0 θw =θw_out (9a)

B.C.2 :

L
At x = L ⇒ X = o
θw = θw _ in
m cw Rtotal
w (9b)

Solving equation (9) with the given

boundary conditions, the water temperature
distribution along the pipe and the required
pipe length are given by Figure 4: Pipe differential element

4
 Figure 7 presents the total pipe length and
the pump power as a function of the pipe
diameter. The figure indicates that the total
pipe length has no strong dependence on the
pipe diameter. Figure 8 presents the total
pipe length and the pump power as a
function of EER. The figure indicates that
the overall pipe length has no strong
dependence on EER.
1500 40

EER=14.5
EWT=120 [F]
Tground = 30 [C]
1250 Pipe Depth=1 [m] 30

Total Pipe Length [m]

Total Pipe

Pump Power [hp]

Length 2 Parallel Loops

1000 20

Figure 5: Horizontal ground heat exchanger 750 10

Pu
mp
configurations Po
we
r
500 0
0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25 2.5 2.75
Pipe Diam. [in]
5. Results and Discussion
Figure 7: Total pipe length and pump power
The software was used to study the effect of vs. pipe diameter
a number of variables on the total pipe
length. Figure 6 presents the total pipe length 3500 7

and the pump power as a function of the 3000

Tground =30 [C]
Pipe Diam.=1 [in]
ground temperature. The figure indicates that Pipe Depth=1 [m]
6.5
Total Pipe Length [m]

2500
the change of the ground temperature from

Pump Power [hp]

Pump Power

one location to another has a significant 2000 Total Pipe Length

6
effect on the overall pipe length. 1500
Consequently the pump power will increase
if the total pipe length increases due to 1000
5.5

increase in the head loss. The pump power 500

will decrease sharply if the number of

0 5
parallel loops is increased at the same 10 11 12 13 14 15
EER
condition and the same total pipe length.
4000 35 Figure 8: Total pipe length and pump power
EER=14.5 vs. EER
3500 EWT=120 [F] 30
Pipe Diam.=1 [in]
Pipe Depth=1 [m]
Total Pipe Length [m]

Calculations of the size of a horizontal

Pump Power [hp]

3000 25

ground heat exchanger required for a

2500 20
geothermal heat pump was carried out. The
2000 gt h 15 estimation is based on 2 or 4 loops in parallel
Len
ipe
Tot
al P 2 of Parallel Loops connection to reduce the circulating pump
1500 10
ower
power. The distance between two adjacent
Pump P
1000 5 pipes in the same trench (but different loop)
3
4
5
is taken as 1 meter (3 ft) to avoid the effect
500 0
25 30 35 40 45 of thermal resistance. The distance between
Ground Temperature [C] two adjacent trenches (passes) is 2.5 m (8 ft).
The results of calculations for three different
Figure 6: Total pipe length and pump power configurations are given in tables 1-3.
vs. ground temperature Results for more different configurations are

5
reported by Said et al (2007). The results are Table 2: GHX configuration: N-Parallel
based on the following data: Loopson One Ground Layer

Water-to-Air Heat Pump System

Capacity 8 TR
EER 14.5
EWT 100 F
TOTAL PIPE LENGTH = 2392 [M] TO 2533 [M]
Water Flow Rate 18 GPM
Soil Data
Ground Temperature 30 C
Soil Thermal Conductivity 2.07 W/m-K NO. LENGTH WIDT AREA TOTAL
Pipe Data N- OF [M] H [M] [M2] LENGTH
Pipe Inside Diameter 1 in PARALLEL LOOP [M]
Pipe Thermal Conductivity 0.1 W/m-K LOOPS ON S
Pipe Depth (for 1st pipe layer) 0.9 m (3 ft) ONE 10 239.2 10 2392 2392
Pipe Depth (for 2nd pipe layer) 1.5 m (5 ft) GROUND
LAYER 20 120.6 20 2412 2412
Table 1: GHX configuration: Two Parallel
Loops on One Ground Layer
30 81.0 30 2429 2429

TOTAL PIPE LENGTH = 2372 [M]

40 61.1 40 2446 2446
LOOP PIPE LENGTH = 1186 [M]
PUMP HORSE POWER = 13 [HP]
50 49.2 50 2462 2462
WATER VELOCITY = 1.7 [M/S]
NO. OF LENGTH WIDT AREA
60 41.3 60 2477 2477
PASSES [M] H [M] [M2]
2 593.2 5 2966
70 35.6 70 2491 2491

4 296.6 13 3856
80 31.3 80 2506 2506

TWO 6 197.7 21 4152

90 28.0 90 2520 2520
PARALLEL
LOOPS ON 8 148.3 29 4300
100 25.3 100 2533 2533
ONE
GROUND 10 118.6 37 4389
LAYER (NO.
OF LOOPS 12 98.9 45 4449
=2)
14 84.7 53 4491

16 74.1 61 4523
TRENCH
WIDTH = 1 18 65.9 69 4548
[M] (3 FT)
20 59.3 77 4567
TRENCH
DEPTH = 1.5
[M] (5 FT)

6
 Table 3: GHX configuration: Six Parallel increase in the head loss. The pump power
Loops on Two Ground Layers will decrease sharply if the number of
parallel loops is increased at the same
condition and the same total pipe length.
TOTAL PIPE LENGTH = 2382 [M]
LOOP PIPE LENGTH = 397 [M] Acknowledgements
PUMP HORSE POWER = 0.5 [HP]
WATER VELOCITY = 0.56 [M/S] The authors would like to acknowledge the
NO. OF LENGTH WIDTH AREA support received from King Abdulaziz City
PASSES [M] [M] [M2] for Science and Technology through Project
2 198.6 7 1390 # IT_23_83 and King Fahd University of
Petroleum & Minerals during the course of
4 99.3 17 1688
this study.

References
6 66.2 27 1787

[1] Collins, P.A. PE, Orio, C.D., and

8 49.6 37 1837
SIX PARALLEL
Smiriglio, S. 2002. Geothermal Heat
Pump Manual, Prepared for NYC
LOOPS ON TWO 10 39.7 47 1867 Department of Design and
GROUND LAYERS
Construction, August 2002.
(NO. OF LOOPS =6) 12 33.1 57 1887 [2] Freeston, D. H., 1995. Direct uses of
geothermal energy, Preliminary
14 28.4 67 1901 Review. Proceedings World
Geothermal Congress 1995,
Florence, Italy, pp. 15-25.
16 24.8 77 1911
[3] Hepbasli A. 2002, Performance
TRENCH WIDTH = 2
evaluation of a vertical ground-
18 22.1 87 1920
source heat pump system in Izmir,
[M] (6 FT)
Turkey, Int. J. Energy Res. 2002; 26:
20 19.9 97 1926 1121–1139
TRENCH DEPTH = 1.5
[4] Hepbasli, A. and Akdemir, O. 2004.
[M] (5 FT) Energy and exergy analysis of a
ground source (geothermal) heat
pump system. Energy Conversion
6. Conclusions and Management, Vol. 45, pp: 737-
753.
Horizontal GCHPs require a larger amount [5] Hepbasli, A., Akdemir, O. and
of ground area and has lower system Hancioglu, E., 2003, "Experimental
efficiency compared to vertical GCHPs, but study of a closed loop vertical
they are typically less expensive. A simple ground source heat pump system"
heat transfer method is used to model the Energy Conversion and
horizontal ground heat exchanger and an Management, Vol. 44, pp. 527-548.
interactive soft-ware program is developed. [6] Lund J.W., Freeston D.H. and Boyd
The program has the capability of predicting T.L. 2005 , World-Wide Direct
the required surface area and consequently Utilization of Geothermal Energy
the possible configuration of horizontal 2005, World Geothermal Congress-
ground heat exchanger required for a GHP of 2005, 24 - 29 April 2005 Antalya –
a given cooling capacity and given COP. The TURKEY.
results indicate that the change of the ground [7] Ramamoorthy, M., Jin H, Chiasson,
temperature from one location to another has A.D., and Spitler, J.D. 2001. Optimal
a significant effect on the overall pipe length. Sizing of Hybrid Ground-Source
Consequently the pump power will increase Heat Pump Systems that use a
if the total pipe length increases due to Cooling Pond as a Supplemental

7
 Heat Rejecter – A System
Simulation Approach. ASHRAE
Transactions. 107(1):26-38.
[8] Said , S.A.M. , Habib , M.A. ,
Mokheimer E. A. , Al-Shayea N.
2007 " Feasibility and Performance
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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia " Final
Report ACST Project # IT_23_83.

Nomenclature

•
m wa The mass flow rate of the
water through the GHX
COPhp The cooling coefficient of
performance of the heat
pump unit.
COPoverall The performance coefficient
of the whole system
Cw The specific heat of water
d The depth of the soil,
D The thermal diffusivity of a
material; defined as the ratio
of its thermal conductivity to
its heat capacity.
Di The inside diameter buried at
a depth d from the ground
surface
Do The outside diameter buried
at a depth d from the ground
surface
Ds The thermal diffusivity of
the soil
hw The heat transfer coefficient
ks The thermal conductivity of
the soil
QH The heat exchanger load
QL The heat pump capacity
S The conduction shape factor
of the pipe
T Temperature of the ground
at a specified depth, °C,
Ta Amplitude of surface
temperature experienced
throughout the year
Ti,a The temperature at the inlet
of the ground heat
exchanger.
Tm Mean surface temperature
(average air temperature or
deep soil