Technical Notes
Dec 20, 2023

Thermomechanical Response of Field-Scale Energy Wall under Different Heating Operations

Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 3

Abstract

This study conducted field tests to investigate the thermomechanical response of an energy wall under practical intermittent and experimental monotone operation modes. Sensors and thermometers were utilized to measure inlet/outlet water temperature, air temperature, wall temperature, and strain. The heat-exchange performance and three-dimensional thermomechanical behavior of the energy wall were closely monitored and analyzed. The test results revealed that the intermittent heating operation demonstrated superior heat-exchange performance compared to the monotone heating operation, resulting in a reduced magnitude of wall temperature change. Moreover, the study highlighted the influence of physical and thermal boundary conditions on thermally induced stress within the wall. The response of the wall to thermal loading was found to be influenced by various factors, including location, temperature change, and the heating history, particularly in the intermittent operation.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Data Availability Statement

All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51922037).

References

Amatya, B. L., K. Soga, P. J. Bourne-Webb, T. Amis, and L. Laloui. 2012. “Thermo-mechanical behaviour of energy piles.” Géotechnique 62 (6): 503–519. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.10.P.116.
Baralis, M., and M. Barla. 2021. “Development and testing of a novel geothermal wall system.” Int. J. Energy Environ. Eng. 12 (4): 689–704. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40095-021-00407-y.
Barbieri, S., M. Antelmi, S. Panday, M. Baratto, A. Angelotti, and L. Alberti. 2022. “Innovative numerical procedure for simulating borehole heat exchangers operation and interpreting thermal response test through MODFLOW-USG code.” J. Hydrol. 614 (Feb): 128556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128556.
Barla, M., A. Di Donna, and A. Santi. 2020. “Energy and mechanical aspects on the thermal activation of diaphragm walls for heating and cooling.” Renewable Energy 147 (2): 2654–2663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.074.
Bourne-Webb, P., S. Burlon, S. Javed, S. Kürten, and F. Loveridge. 2016a. “Analysis and design methods for energy geostructures.” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 65 (Nov): 402–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.06.046.
Bourne-Webb, P. J., T. M. Bodas Freitas, and R. A. da Costa Gonçalves. 2016b. “Thermal and mechanical aspects of the response of embedded retaining walls used as shallow geothermal heat exchangers.” Energy Build. 125 (Aug): 130–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.04.075.
Brandl, H. 2006. “Energy foundations and other thermo-active ground structures.” Géotechnique 56 (2): 81–122. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2006.56.2.81.
Di Donna, A., F. Loveridge, M. Piemontese, and M. Barla. 2021. “The role of ground conditions on the heat exchange potential of energy walls.” Geomech. Energy Environ. 25 (Mar): 100199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gete.2020.100199.
Dong, S., X. Li, A. M. Tang, J. M. Pereira, V. T. Nguyen, P. Che, and Z. Xiong. 2019. “Thermo-mechanical behavior of energy diaphragm wall: Physical and numerical modelling.” Appl. Therm. Eng. 146 (Jan): 243–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.09.054.
Fang, J., G. Kong, and Q. Yang. 2022. “Group performance of energy piles under cyclic and variable thermal loading.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 148 (8): 04022060. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)gt.19435606.0002840.
Goode, J. C., III, and J. S. McCartney. 2015. “Centrifuge modeling of end-restraint effects in energy foundations.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 141 (8): 0401503. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001333.
Han, C., and X. Yu. 2020. “Analyses of the thermo-hydro-mechanical responses of energy pile subjected to non-isothermal heat exchange condition.” Renewable Energy 157 (Sep): 150–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.04.118.
Insana, A., and M. Barla. 2020. “Experimental and numerical investigations on the energy performance of a thermo-active tunnel.” Renewable Energy 152 (Jun): 781–792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.01.086.
Kong, G., J. Fang, Z. Lv, and Q. Yang. 2023a. “Effects of pile and soil properties on thermally induced mechanical responses of energy piles.” Comput. Geotech. 154 (Feb): 105176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2022.105176.
Kong, G., S. Hu, and Q. Yang. 2023b. “Uncertainty method and sensitivity analysis for assessment of energy consumption of underground metro station.” Sustainable Cities Soc. 92 (May): 104504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104504.
Kong, G., D. Wu, and Y. Wei. 2023c. “Experimental and numerical investigations on the energy and structural performance of a full-scale energy utility tunnel.” Tunnelling Underground Space Technol. 139 (Sep): 105208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2023.105208.
Kürten, S., D. Mottaghy, and M. Ziegler. 2015. “Design of plane energy geostructures based on laboratory tests and numerical modelling.” Energy Build. 107 (Nov): 434–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.08.039.
Ma, C., A. D. Donna, D. Dias, and J. Zhang. 2021. “Numerical investigations of the tunnel environment effect on the performance of energy tunnels.” Renewable Energy 172 (Jul): 1279–1292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.03.104.
McCartney, J. S., and K. D. Murphy. 2017. “Investigation of potential dragdown/uplift effects on energy piles.” Geomech. Energy Environ. 10 (Jun): 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gete.2017.03.001.
Nam, Y., and H.-B. Chae. 2014. “Numerical simulation for the optimum design of ground source heat pump system using building foundation as horizontal heat exchanger.” Energy 73 (Aug): 933–942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.06.108.
Ng, C. W. W., A. Farivar, S. M. M. H. Gomaa, and F. Jafarzadeh. 2021. “Centrifuge modeling of cyclic nonsymmetrical thermally loaded energy pile groups in clay.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 147 (12): 04021146. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002689.
Sterpi, D., A. Coletto, and L. Mauri. 2017. “Investigation on the behaviour of a thermo-active diaphragm wall by thermo-mechanical analyses.” Geomech. Energy Environ. 9 (Mar): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gete.2016.10.001.
Xia, C., M. Sun, G. Zhang, S. Xiao, and Y. Zou. 2012. “Experimental study on geothermal heat exchangers buried in diaphragm walls.” Energy Build. 52 (Sep): 50–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2012.03.054.
Zhang, G., C. Xia, Y. Yang, M. Sun, and Y. Zou. 2014. “Experimental study on the thermal performance of tunnel lining ground heat exchangers.” Energy Build. 77 (Jul): 149–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.03.043.
Zhang, G., C. Xia, X. Zhao, and S. Zhou. 2016. “Effect of ventilation on the thermal performance of tunnel lining GHEs.” Appl. Therm. Eng. 93 (Jan): 416–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.008.
Zhong, Y., A. Bidarmaghz, G. A. Narsilio, and N. Makasis. 2023. “Thermo-hydraulic analysis in geothermal energy walls.” Tunnelling Underground Space Technol. 132 (Feb): 104862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2022.104862.
Zhou, Y., G. Kong, and J. Li. 2023. “Performance of a belled pile influenced by pile head freedom response to a cooling–heating cycle.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 149 (2): 04022133. https://doi.org/10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-10407.
Zhou, Y., Z. Wu, and K. Wang. 2021. “An analytical model for heat transfer outside a single borehole heat exchanger considering convection at ground surface and advection of vertical water flow.” Renewable Energy 172 (Jul): 1046–1062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.03.102.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150Issue 3March 2024

History

Received: Jun 29, 2023
Accepted: Oct 16, 2023
Published online: Dec 20, 2023
Published in print: Mar 1, 2024
Discussion open until: May 20, 2024

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

ASCE Technical Topics:

Authors

Affiliations

Shuaijun Hu [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai Univ., Nanjing 210024, PR China. Email: [email protected]
Gangqiang Kong [email protected]
Professor, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai Univ., Nanjing 210024, PR China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Professor, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe Univ., Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5317-7374. Email: [email protected]
Professor, State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian Univ. of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China. Email: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share