An energy pile encases heat exchange pipes to exchange thermal energy with the surrounding ground formation by circulating working fluid through the pipes. An energy pile has many advantages in terms of economic feasibility and constructability over conventional Ground Heat Exchangers (GHEXs). In this paper, a coil-type PHC energy pile was constructed in a test bed and its thermal performance was experimentally and numerically evaluated to make a preliminary design. An in-situ thermal response test (TRT) was performed on the coil-type PHC energy pile and its results were compared with the solid cylinder source model presented by Man et al. (2010). In addition, a CFD numerical analysis using FLUNET was carried out to back-analyze the thermal conductivity of the ground formation from the TRT result.To study effects of a coil pitch of the coil-type heat exchange pipe, a thermal interference between the heat exchange pipes in PHC energy piles was parametrically studied by performing the CFD numerical analysis, then the effect of the coil pitch on thermal performance and efficiency of heat exchange were evaluated. Finally, an equivalent heat exchange efficiency factor for the coil-type PHC energy pile in comparison with a common multiple U-type PHC energy pile was obtained to facilitate a preliminary design method for the coil-type PHC energy pile by adopting the PILESIM2

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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.

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℃ in heating mode and 0.34℃, 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.