Exploring the Importance of Natural Convection Mechanism on Heat Transfer Response of Soil Medium in the Presence of an Unconfined Groundwater Flow
Publication: Geo-Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Soil thermal response is of great importance in thermally related geo-environmental practices such as contaminated soil thermal treatment and renewable energy storage systems. Despite previous studies showing natural convection influence on soil thermal response in hydrostatic conditions, less attention has been given to its effect in the presence of subsurface flow. Additionally, the few studies that considered this matter in their analyses explored that only in the presence of confined groundwater flow. Therefore, this study investigated the role of natural convection on soil thermal response in the presence of unconfined groundwater flow. A finite element model was developed in COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate hydro-thermal behavior of saturated soils. Results showed that, depending on the soil permeability and groundwater flow velocity, natural convection impact on soil thermal response can be significant. Moreover, results were interpreted using a non-dimensional number, known as mixed convection number, which considers the coupled effect of permeability and groundwater velocity. It was revealed that when mixed convection number increases, natural convection effect intensifies.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2024
Pages: 654 - 663
History
Published online: Feb 22, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Flow (fluid dynamics)
- Fluid dynamics
- Fluid mechanics
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Groundwater flow
- Groundwater pollution
- Heat treatment
- Hydrologic engineering
- Permeability (soil)
- Pollution
- Soil mechanics
- Soil pollution
- Soil properties
- Soil treatment
- Thermal properties
- Thermodynamics
- Waste management
- Waste treatment
- Water and water resources
- Water pollution
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