Computational Modeling of an End-Bearing Heat Exchanger Pile Subjected to Mechanical and Thermal Loads

A response of the actual end bearing heat exchanger pile to combined mechanical and thermal loads is predicted by computational modeling. The pile is surrounded by a layered soil profile consisting of four different clay layers while the pile tip is slightly embedded into the bedrock. Most of the material properties relevant for the computational model were obtained based on laboratory tests that were carried out during the site investigation. Furthermore, the influence of mechanical, thermal and hydraulic properties of soil layers on the pile response are investigated by considering four additional homogeneous soil profiles, each one of them being a single soil from the actual layered soil profile underlain by the bedrock. It is found that the response of the pile in soils A1 and A2 on one hand, and the response of the pile in soils B and C on the other hand provide two extremes that bound the response of the pile embedded into the actual layered soil profile. The latter very well with the experimentally observed response, except perhaps for the very shallow depths.