• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.131-148
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the heat transfer efficiency of using copper pipe, stainless pipe and traditional PE pipe commonly used for geothermal heat exchanger, with aims at seeking improved methods. In addition, the varying efficiency of heat transfer from ground heat and groundwater heat was assessed and its applicability was discussed. Design parameters for empirical field study were derived by controlling flow rate, velocity and caliber of pipes of the heat exchanger after the thermal efficiency of the heat exchanger material was evaluated. The heat exchange efficiency and effective thermal conductivity were measured with changing pattern through field thermal efficiency and thermal response test. Experimental results show that the metal material showed higher heat transfer efficiency than the PE pipe. Although the heat transfer efficiency was not high with the increase of the pipe diameter in the flow rate, it was high with the increase of the pipe diameter in the velocity.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.600-603
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• 2009

We compared relative importance of thermal conductivity and initial ground temperature in designing borehole heat exchanger network and also we test accuracy of ground temperature estimation in thermal response test using a proven 3-D T-H modeler. The effect of error in estimating ground temperature on calculated total length of borehole heat exchanger was more than 3 times larger than the case of thermal conductivity in maximum 20% error range. Considering 10% of error in estimating thermal conductivity is generally acceptable, we have to define the initial ground temperature within 5% confidence level. Utilizing the mean annual ground surface temperature and the geothermal gradient map compiled so far can be a economic way of estimating ground temperature with some caution. When performing thermal response test for estimating ground temperature as well as measuring thermal conductivity, minimum 100 minutes of ambient circulation is required, which should be even more in case of very cold and hot seasons.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.229-239
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• 2010

Performing a series of in-situ thermal response tests, the effective thermal conductivity of six vertical closed-loop ground heat exchangers was experimentally evaluated and compared each other, which were constructed in a test bed in Wonju. To compare thermal efficiency of the ground heat exchangers in field, the six boreholes were constructed with different construction conditions: grouting materials (cement vs. bentonite), different additives (silica sand vs. graphite) and the shape of pipe-sections (general U-loop type vs. 3 pipe-type). From the test results, it can be concluded that cement grouting has a higher effective thermal conductivity than that of bentonite grouting, and the efficiency of graphite better performs over silica sand as a thermally-enhancing addictive. In addition, a new 3 pipe-type heat exchanger provides less thermal interference between the inlet and outlet pipe than the conventional U-loop type heat exchanger, which results in superior thermal performance.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.45-51
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• 2009

A ground-loop heat exchanger in a ground source heat pump system is an important unit that determines the thermal performance of a system and its initial cost. The size and performance of this heat exchanger is highly dependent on ground thermal properties. A proper design requires certain site-specific parameters, most importantly the ground effective thermal conductivity, the borehole thermal resistance and the undisturbed ground temperature. This study was performed to investigate the effect of some parameters such as borehole lengths, various grouting materials and U-tube configurations on ground effective thermal conductivity. In this study, thermal response tests were conducted using a testing device with 9-different ground-loop heat exchangers. From the experimental results, the length of ground-loop heat exchanger affects to the effective thermal conductivity. Among the various grouting materials, the bentonite-based grout with silica sand shows the largest thermal conductivity value.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.43-50
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• 2011

This paper presents how to analyze heat transfer characteristics of double-layered soils. Thermal response tests were conducted to measure the ground thermal conductivities of Joomunjin sand and double layered soils filled in a steel box of which the size is $5m{\times}1m{\times}1m$. Double-layered soils were composed of Joomunjin sand and Kaoline clay. Each thermal conductivity of Joomunjin sand and Kaloine clay was measured by using Heat Flow Meter considering different void ratio. The ground thermal conductivity of double-layered soils was 15% smaller than that of Joomunjin sand.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.512-520
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• 2007

The design of a ground-source heat pump system includes specifications for a ground loop heat exchanger where the heat transfer rate depends on the effective thermal conductivity of the ground and the effective thermal resistance of the borehole. To evaluate these heat transfer properties, in-situ thermal response tests on four vertical test boreholes with different grouting materials were conducted by adding a monitored amount of heat to circulating water. The line-source method is applied to the temperature rise in an in-situ test and extended to also give an estimate of borehole effective thermal resistance. The effect of increasing thermal conductivity of the grouting materials from 0.818 to $1.104W/m^{\circ}C$ resulted in overall increases in effective thermal conductivity by 15.8 to 56.3% and reductions in effective thermal resistance by 13.0 to 31.1%.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.695-703
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• 2005

The objective of this study is to determine the effective thermal conductivity and thermal resistance values in test boreholes with three different fill materials. To evaluate these heat transfer properties, in-situ tests on four vertical boreholes were conducted by adding a monitored amount of heat to water over various test lengths. Two parameter estimation models, line-source and numerical one-dimensional models, for evaluation of thermal response test data were compared when applied on the same four data sets. Results show that the average thermal conductivity deviation between measured data and these two models is in the range of $3.03\%$ to $4.45\%$. The effect of increasing grout thermal conductivity from 1.34 to 1.82 $W/m^{\circ}C$ resulted in overall increases in effective formation thermal conductivity by $11.1\%$ to $51.9\%$ and reductions in borehole thermal resistance by $11.6\%$ to $26.1\%$.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2011

A ground loop heat exchanger in a ground source heat pump system is an important unit that determines the thermal performance of a system and its initial cost. A proper design requires certain site specific parameters, most importantly the ground effective thermal conductivity, the borehole thermal resistance and the undisturbed ground temperature. This study was performed to investigate the effect of some parameters such as borehole lengths, various grouting materials and U tube configurations on ground effective thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance. In this study, thermal response tests were conducted using a testing device to 9 different ground loop heat exchangers. From the experimental results, the length of ground loop heat exchanger affects to the effective thermal conductivity. The results of this experiment shows that higher thermal conductivity of grouting materials leads to the increase effective thermal conductivity from 22 to 32%. Also, mounting spacers have increased by 14%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.8-16
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• 2012

The use of energy pile foundation has been increased for economic utilization of geothermal energy. This paper describes an experimental and numerical study on thermal response tests (TRTs) using W and 3U-shaped ground heat exchangers (GHEs) in precast-high strength concrete (PHC) energy piles. Ground thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance were measured and compared with those numerical analysis. W-shpaed GHE showed higher heat transfer behavior than 3U-shaped one because of different conditions such as pile size and volume of grout. That is, ground thermal conductivity using W-shaped GHE was higher than that of 3U shaped GHE, and borehole thermal resistance vice versa. The relative error of borehole resistance values between numerical and analytical solution was less than 5%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.32-40
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• 2012

Geothermal heat pump(GHP) systems use vertical borehole heat exchangers to transfer heat to and from the surrounding ground via a heat carrier fluid that circulates between the borehole and the heat pump. An Important feature associated with design parameters and system performance is the local thermal resistances between the heat carrier flow channels in the borehole and the surrounding ground. This paper deals with the in-situ experimental determination of the effective thermal properties of the ground. The recorded thermal responses together with the line-source theory are used to determine the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, and the steady-state borehole thermal resistance. In addition, this paper compares the experimental borehole resistance with the results from the different empirical and theoretical relations to evaluate this resistance. Further, the performance simulation of a GHP system with vertical borehole heat exchangers was conducted to analyze the effect of the borehole thermal resistance on the system performance.