• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.128-135
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• 2018

Currently, vertical closed ground heat exchangers are the most widely utilized geothermal heat pump systems and the major influencing parameters on the performance of ground heat exchangers are the ground thermal conductivity(k) and borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). In this study, the borehole thermal resistance was calculated from the in-situ thermal response test data and the individual effects of design parameters (flow rate, number of pipe, grout composition) on the borehole thermal resistance were analyzed. The grout thermal resistance was also compared with the correlations in the literatures. The borehole thermal resistance of the investigated ground heat exchanger results in 0.1303 W/m.K and the grout thermal resistance (66.6% of borehole thermal resistance) is the most influencing parameter on borehole heat transfer compared to the other design parameters (pipe thermal resistance, 31.5% and convective thermal resistance, 1.9%). In addition, increasing the thermal conductivity of grout by adding silica sand to Bentonite is more effective than the other design improvements, such as an increase in circulating flowrate or number of tubes on enhancing borehole heat transfer.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2010

Line source method of borehole system assumes the entire surrounding medium is uniform. However, thermal properties of grouting region are considerably different from those of surrounding soil. In this study we investigate the effect of grouting materials on the solution of line source method with the aid of numerical analysis. This numerical model generates the temperature of borehole fluid with which line source solution can be obtained. Then this solution can be compared with input condition of numerical model. The results of this comparison show that thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance of line source solution are approximately 86% and 91% of the input condition of numerical model. Chart method is developed in this study to find the numerical input conditions (thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance) from the line source solution. Thermal response test of test borehole is conducted, the results of which are approximately consistent with the Chart method. Thermal property changes of grouting materials on the line source solution are also examined.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.20-27
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• 2009

The effect of borehole thermal resistance on the borehole length is studied. In performing this work a new concept BLRR(borehole length reduction rate) is developed based on the line source model. The solution of line source model is shown to be valid through the comparison with the data of thermal response test. It is shown that BLRR is a function of soil thermal conductivity(k) and borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). The value of BLRR increases with increasing k, which means reducing $R_b$ is more effective when k is high. The reduction of borehole length with change of $R_b$ is easily estimated with BLRR. The validity of BLRR is also examined with EED analysis.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.783-790
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• 2006

A one-dimensional numerical model coupled with parameter estimation is used to predict the effective thermal conductivities of soil formations and borehole resistances from in situ field test data. In this application a new method of using initial ignoring time (IIT) obtained from error estimation is tried and turned out to be successful in determining soil thermal conductivities. This method is used for single-U and double-U borehole system. The results of this method are compared and agreed well with those of existing software (GPM) in the analysis of single-U borehole data. In the analysis of double-U borehole data this method seems to be better in predicting soil and borehole properties.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.68-74
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• 2012

Investigation of the effective soil thermal conductivity($k$) is the first step in designing the ground loop heat exchanger(borehole) of a geothermal heat pump system. Another important factor is the borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). Thermal response tests offer a good method to determine the ground thermal properties for the total heat transport in the ground. The first step is measured for initial soil temperature. This is done by supplying a only pump power into a borehole heat exchanger. They need to supply into water unload heat power more than 30 minutes. In this study, the initial soil temperature was found to analysis $14.1{\sim}16.0^{\circ}C$,the ratio was 68.7% represented. In this case of $k$, was 2.1~3.0 $W/m{\cdot}k$, $R_b$ was 0.11~0.20 $m{\cdot}K/W$. In this work, it is also shown that the distribution of a soil thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance were on the influence of initial soil temperature. And soil thermal conductivity was related with factors of equation by linear least square method, borehole thermal resistance was on the influence of composite factors.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.71-78
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• 2010

Investigation of the effective soil thermal conductivity(k) is the first step in designing the ground loop heat exchanger(borehole) of a geothermal heat pump system. The line source method is required by New and Renewable Energy Center of Korea Energy Management Corporation in analyzing data obtained from thermal response tests. Another important factor in designing the ground loop heat exchanger is the borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). There are two methods to evaluate $R_b$ : one is to use a line source method, and the other is to use a shape factor of the borehole. In this study, we demonstrated that the line source method produces better results than the shape factor method in evaluating $R_b$. This is because the borehole thermal resistance evaluated with the line source method characteristically reduces the temperature differences between an actual and a theoretical thermal behaviors of the borehole. Evaluation of $R_b$ requires soil volumetric heat capacity. However, the effect of the soil volumetric heat capacity on the borehole thermal resistance is very small. Therefore, it is possible to use a generally accepted average value of soil volumetric heat capacity($=2MJ/m^3{\cdot}K$) in the analysis. In this work, it is also shown that an acceptable range of the initial ignoring time should be in the range of 8~16hrs. Thus, a mean value of 12 hrs is recommended.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.80-86
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• 2011

Investigation of the effective soil thermal conductivity(k) is the first step in designing the ground loop heat exchanger(borehole) of a geothermal heat pump system. Another important factor is the borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). Thermal response tests offer a good method to determine the ground thermal properties for the total heat transport in the ground. This is done by supplying a constant heat power into a borehole heat exchanger. There are two methods to supply a constant heat power. One is to employ the electricity provided by Korea Electric Power Corporation(KEPCO). The other is to use electricity generated by a generator. In this study, the power supply regulation was found to reduce when the electricity generated by the generator was used. This is because the generator evaluated with the power supply characteristically reduces the power supply regulation between an overload and a complex using. But it sometimes occurs a power supply regulation in In-situ thermal response test. In this case getting of k,$R_b$ requires delay times and restored normal state. However, the effect of the delay times and restored normal state on the soil thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance is very small. Therefore it is possible to use a generally accepted delay times and restored normal state in the analysis. In this work, it is also shown that an acceptable range of ${\Delta}k$, ${\Delta}R_b$ for normal state and regulation state might be approximately 0.01-0.16W/m k, and -0.004-0.007m K/W, respectively. Thus, restored normal state of power supply regulation is valuable to recommend.