• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

A novel steel-pipe energy pile is introduced, in which the deformed rebars for main reinforcing are replaced with steel pipes in a large diameter cast-in-place energy pile. Here, the steel pipes act as not only reinforcements but also heat exchangers by circulating the working fluid through the hollow hole in the steel pipes. Under this concept, the steel-pipe energy pile can serve a role of supporting main structures and exchanging heat with surrounding mediums without installing additional heat exchange pipes. In this study, the steel-pipe energy pile was constructed in a test bed considering the material properties of steel pipes and the subsoil investigation. Then, the thermal performance test (TPT) in cooling condition was conducted in the constructed energy pile to investigate thermal performance. In addition, the thermal performance of the steel-pipe energy pile was compared with that of the conventional large diameter cast-in-place energy pile to evaluate its applicability. As a result, the steel-pipe energy pile showed 11% higher thermal performance than the conventional energy pile along with much simpler construction processes.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.83-88
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• 2012

In this study, physical characteristics of cement and/or concrete materials that are typically used for energy-foundation (EF) structures have been studied. The thermal conductivity and structural integrity of the cement-based materials were examined, which are commonly encountered in backfilling a vertical ground heat exchangers, cast-in-place concrete piles and concrete lining in tunnel. For this purpose the thermal conductivity and unconfined compression strength of cement-based materials with various curing conditions were experimentally estimated and compared. Hydration heat generated from massive concrete in the cast-in-place concrete energy pile was observed for 4 weeks to estimate its dissipation time in the underground. The hydration heat may mask the in-situ thermal response test (TRT) result performed in the cast-in-place concrete energy pile. It is concluded that at least two weeks are needed to dissipate the hydration heat in this case. In addition, a series of numerical analysis was performed to compare the effect of thermal property of the concrete material on the cast-in-place pile.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.641-647
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• 2010

Ground-source(Geothermal) heat pump(GSHP) systems can achieve a higher coefficient of performance than conventional air-source heat pump(ASHP) systems. However, GSHP systems are not widespread because of their expensive installation costs. The authors have developed a GSHP system that employs the cast-in-place concrete pile foundations of a building as heat exchangers in order to reduce the initial cost. In this system, eight U-tubes are arranged around the surface of a cast-in-place concrete pile foundation. The heat exchange capability of this system, subterranean temperature changes and heat pump performance were investigated in a full-scale experiment. As a result, the average values for heat rejection were 186~201 W/m(per pile, 25 W/m per pair of tubes) while cooling. The average COP of this system was 4.6 while cooling; rendering this system more effective in energy saving terms than the typical ASHP systems.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.361-375
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• 2015

An energy pile is one of the novel ground heat exchangers (GHEX's) that is a economical alternative to the conventional closed-loop vertical GHEX. The combined system of both a structural foundation and a GHEX contains a heat exchange pipe inside the pile foundation and allows a working fluid circulating through the pipe, inducing heat exchange with the ground formation. In this paper, a group of energy piles equipped with parallel U-type (5, 8 and 10 pairs) heat exchange pipes was constructed in a test-bed by fabricating in large-diameter cast-in-place concrete piles. In addition, a closed-loop vertical GHEX with 30m depth was constructed nearby to conduct in-situ thermal response tests (TRTs) and to compare with the thermal performance of the cast-in-place energy piles. A series of thermal performance tests was carried out with application of an artificial cooling and heating load to evaluate the heat exchange rate of energy piles. The applicability of cast-in-place energy piles was evaluated by comparing the relative heat exchange efficiency and heat exchange rate with preceding studies. Finally, it is concluded that the cast-in-place energy piles constructed in the test-bed demonstrate effective and stable thermal performance compared with the other types of GHEX.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.148-154
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• 2005

Ground-source (Geothermal) heat pump (GSHP) systems can achieve a higher coefficient of performance than conventional air-source heat pump (ASHP) systems. However, GSHP systems are not widespread in Japan because of their expensive boring costs. The authors have developed a GSHP system that employs the cast-in-place concrete pile foundations of a building as heat exchangers in order to reduce the initial boring cost. In this system, eight U-tubes are arranged around the surface of a cast-in-place concrete pile foundation. The heat exchange capability of this system, subterranean temperature changes and heat pump performance were investigated in a foil-scale experiment. As a result, the average values for heat rejection were 186${\sim}$201 W/m (for pile, 25 W/m per Pair of tubes) while cooling. The average COP of this system was 4.6 while cooling; rendering this system more effective in energy saving terms than the typical ASHP systems. The initial cost of construction per unit for heat extraction and rejection is ${\yen}$72/W for this system, whereas it is f300/W for existing standard borehole systems.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1049-1061
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• 2013

In this paper, a relative heat exchange rate is numerically compared for cast-in-place concrete energy piles with different heat exchange pipe configurations, and a new design method for energy piles is proposed. An equivalent heat exchange rate was estimated for the W-type (one series loop), multiple U-type (four parallel loops), and coil-type heat exchanger installed in the same large-diameter drilled shaft. In order to simulate a cooling operation in summer by a CFD analysis, the LWT (leaving water temperature) into a energy pile was fixed at $35^{\circ}C$ and then the EWT (entering water temperature) into a heat pump was monitored. In case of continuously applying the artificial maximum cooling load for 100 hours, all of the three types of heat exchangers show the marginally similar heat exchange rate. However, in case of intermittently applying the cooling load with a cycle of 8 hours operation-16 hours off for 7 consecutive days, the coil type heat exchanger exhibits a heat exchange rate only 86 % of the multiple U-type due to measurable thermal interference between pipe loops in the energy pile. On the other hand, the W-type possesses the similar heat exchange rate to the multiple U-type. The equivalent heat exchange rates for each configuration of heat exchangers obtained from the CFD analysis were adopted for implementing the commercial design program (PILESIM2). Finally, a design method for cast-in-place concrete energy piles is proposed along with a design chart in consideration of typical design factors.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.28-36
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• 2013

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of the GHP system with 45 cast-in-place energy piles(CEP) for a commercial building. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of a sustainable performance of the system, transient simulations were conducted over 1-year and 20-year periods, respectively. The 1-year simulation results showed that the maximum and minimum temperatures of brine returning from the CEPs were $23.91^{\circ}C$ and $6.66^{\circ}C$, which were in a range of design target temperatures. In addition, after 20 years' operation, these returning temperatures decreased to $21.24^{\circ}C$ and $3.68^{\circ}C$, and finally reached to stable state. Annual average extraction heat of cast-in-place energy piles was 94.3 MWh and injection heat was 65.7 MWh from the 20 years of simulation results. Finally, it is expected this GHP system can operate with average heating SPF of more than 3.45 for long-term.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.12-18
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• 2015

The energy pile, used for both structural foundations and heat exchangers, brings about heat exchange with the ground formation by circulating a working fluid for heating and cooling buildings. As heat exchange occurs in the energy pile, thermal stress and strain is generated in the pile body and surrounding ground formation. In order to investigate the thermo-mechanical behavior of an energy pile, a comprehensive experimental program was conducted, monitoring the thermal stress of a cast-in place energy pile equipped with five pairs of U-type heat exchanger pipes. The heating and cooling simulation both continued for 30 days. The thermal strain in the longitudinal direction of the energy pile was monitored for a 15 operation days and another 15 days monitoring followed, without the application of heat exchange. In addition, a finite element model was developed to simulate the thermo-mechanical behavior of the energy pile. A non-linear contact model was adopted to interpret the interaction at the pile-soil interface, and thermal-induced structure mechanics was considered to handle the thermo-mechanical coupled multi-field problem.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.169-175
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• 2012

In recent, there are many studies associated with energy piles to save initial construction cost for ground source heat pump system. In this study, to evaluate geothermal exchange rates two types (a connection type and a slinky type) of cast-in-place energy piles (PRD, 4.5m in depth, 1,200 mm in diameter) were constructed for the tests and their efficiencies were compared with numerical analysis results. As a result, starting with operation, geothermal exchange rate gradually decreases due to exchange of lower ground temperature. In the case of connection type, temperature difference is $0.37^{\circ}C$ in heating mode and $0.34^{\circ}C$, in cooling mode, respectively. In addition, in case of a connection type, geothermal exchange rate in heating mode is 2,314W/m and in cooling mode, 252.2W/m whose value is 9% higher than in heating mode. In the case of slinky type, the average geothermal exchange rate in heating mode is 168.0W/m, which is about 27% lower than that of connection type.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.14-22
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• 2023

Steel-pipe civil structures, including steel-pipe energy piles and cast-in-place piles (CIPs), utilize steel pipes as their primary reinforcements. These steel pipes facilitate the circulation of a working fluid through their annular crosssection, enabling heat exchange with the surrounding ground formation. In this study, the cooling performance of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system that incorporated steel-pipe civil structures was investigated to assess their applicability. First of all, the thermal performance test was conducted with steel-pipe CIPs to evaluate the average heat exchange amount. Subsequently, a GSHP system was designed and implemented within an office container, considering the various types of steel-pipe civil structures. During the performance evaluation tests, parameters such as the coefficient of performance (COP) and entering water temperature (EWT) were closely monitored. The outcomes indicated an average COP of 3.74 for the GSHP system and the EWT remained relatively stable throughout the tests. Consequently, the GSPH system demonstrated its capability to consistently provide a sufficient heat source, even during periods of high cooling thermal demand, by utilzing the steel-pipe civil structures.