A Performance Prediction of a Vertical-type Geothermal Heat Exchanger by CFD Analysis

This study proposes a CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis as a method of verification of the designed-data and a supplement of the insufficient experiences in geothermal system, which shows a rapid growth among the renewable energies. The followings are the results. FLUENT 6.2.12 is used as a CFD tool on this study, with the equations of continuity, motion, energy for unsteady flow through pipes and k-epsilon turbulent model. S-type model which has one borehole with diameter 12m by depth 206m and T-type model which has 3 boreholes with $12m{\times}20m{\times}206m$ are proposed, and also the boundary conditions are described. The temperature differences between temperatures by CFD analysis and by on-site measurement are less than 1.5%, this shows a high reliability of CFD analysis process which this study proposes. After 11 days simulation operated 12 hours interval On/Off mode, it is clearly predicted that the outlet temperatures of geothermal pipes are increased by $1.2^{\circ}C$, and $2.2^{\circ}C$ after 4 months. And the outlet temperatures of geothermal pipes increased with increase of the mass flow rates through the pipes. T-type model shows that the 4m distance between boreholes are reasonable because the temperatures at 2m and 6m from boreholes are nearly same.

CFD 해석에 의한 수직형 지열교환기의 성능예측