Ground source heat pump systems (GSHP) can achieve higher performance of the system, by supplying more efficient heat source to the heat pump, than the conventional air-source heat pump system. But building clients and designers have hesitated to use GSHP systems, due to expensive initial cost, and uncertain economic feasibility. In order to reduce the initial cost, many researches have focused on the energy-pile system, using the structure of the building as a heat exchanger. Even though several experimental studies for the energy-pile system have been conducted, there was not enough data of quantitative evaluation with economic analysis and comprehensive analysis for the energy-pile. In this study, a prediction method has been developed for the energy pile system with barrette pile, using the ground heat transfer model and ground heat exchanger model. Moreover, a feasibility study for the energy pile system with barrette pile was conducted, by performance analysis and LCC assessment. As a result, it was found that the heat exchange rate of a barrette pile was 2.55 kW, and the payback period using LCC analysis was 8.8 years.

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.