Geothermics 81 (2019) 53–73

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Geothermics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geothermics

Thermal analysis of a triple helix ground heat exchanger using numerical T

simulation and multiple linear regression
Hossein Javadia, Seyed Soheil Mousavi Ajarostaghib, , Seyed Sina Mousavic, Mohsen Pourfallaha
⁎

a
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Mazandaran University of Science and Technology, Babol, 47166-85635, Iran
b
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, 47148-71167, Iran
c
Department of Construction Engineering, University of Quebec, École de technologie supérieure (ETS Montreal), 1100 Notre-Dame West, Montréal, QC, H3C 1K3, Canada

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Geothermal heat exchangers, one of the main components of shallow geothermal systems, have been in-
Helical ground heat exchanger vestigated by many researchers in recent years to exploit clean and renewable energies. Most of the previous
Pressure drop studies have mostly concentrated on the common types of ground heat exchangers including U-tube and helical
Heat exc ground heat exchangers. In the case of helical type, only two types of heat exchanger, with an inner outlet or
Hange rate
with an outer outlet, have been examined. In order to increase the surface interaction between heat exchanger
Thermal resistance
and backfill to improve the heat transfer rate, this study intends to present a new generation of helical ground
heat exchangers called triple helix. Three helical branches are considered for both inlet and outlet of triple helix
ground heat exchanger. The influences of geometric parameters such as helix pitch, helix diameter, helical coil
length, the distance between centers of inner and outer helical coil branches, and the distance between centers of
inner/outer helical coil branches on the efficacy of the heat transfer process are investigated by a numerical
study. The results indicate that the most effective geometric parameter on the performance of the triple helix
ground heat exchanger is the length of the helical coil, while the two parameters of the distance between centers
of inner/outer helical coil branches, as well as the distance between centers of inner and outer helical coil
branches, have the least effect. Along with the numerical results, multiple regression method accompanies with
the artificial neural network are used to propose effective formulations to predict thermal properties of a triple
helix ground heat exchanger.

1. Introduction the significant influence of the GHE performance on the efficiency of

The utilization of fossil fuels in many industries has resulted in
climate change which is a real threat to our future. Although most
energy resources are concentrated in a limited number of countries,
renewable energy resources exist over vast geographical areas. The
rapid spread of renewable energy, such as geothermal systems that use
closed-loop heat exchangers, results in a considerable climate change
mitigation, energy security, and economic benefits (Omer, 2008). A
modern and clean manner of heating and cooling buildings across the
world is using ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs). They are appro-
priate for low environmental impact projects and various types of
building. GSHPs do not need hot rocks (geothermal energy) and can be
installed almost everywhere. In the GSHP system, a ground heat ex-
changer (GHE) plays a vital role in the heat transfer process. Regarding
the entire GSHP system, many researchers have investigated every as-
pect of GHE technologies (Javadi et al., 2018).
Among the wide variety types of GHE, the most common one is U-
tube heat exchangers including single U-tube, double U-tube, triple U-
tube, and multi-tube (Zanchini et al., 2012; Pu et al., 2015; Olfman
et al., 2014; Zanchini and Jahanbin, 2018; Li et al., 2017; Sandler et al.,
2017; Sliwa and Rosen, 2017; Smith and Elmore, 2019; Sliwa et al.,
2019; Li et al., 2019). In addition, coaxial (Gordon et al., 2017; Miyara,
2012; Raymond et al., 2015; Zarrella et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2017;
Huchtemann and Müller, 2014; Zanchini et al., 2010a, b; Zhao et al.,
2008; Iry and Rafee, 2019) and W-tube (Song et al., 2017; Mehrizi
et al., 2016; Luo et al., 2016; Zhao et al., 2016; Yoon et al., 2014; Gao
et al., 2008; Xia et al., 2012; Yoon et al., 2015; Park et al., 2013; You
et al., 2014) heat exchangers have been studied in recent years.

Abbreviations: TPC, thermal performance capability; COV, coefficient of variation; HER, heat exchange rate; IAE, integral absolute error
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: h.javadi994@ustmb.ac.ir (H. Javadi), s.s.mousavi@stu.nit.ac.ir (S.S.M. Ajarostaghi),
seyed-sina.mousavi-ojarestaghi.1@ens.etsmtl.ca (S.S. Mousavi), m.pourfallah@ustmb.ac.ir (M. Pourfallah).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2019.04.005
Received 1 December 2018; Received in revised form 15 March 2019; Accepted 19 April 2019
Available online 28 April 2019
0375-6505/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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