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Thermal Impact Assessment of Groundwater Heat Pumps (GWHPs): Rigorous vs. Simplified Models

Author

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  • Bruno Piga

    (Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Alessandro Casasso

    (Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Francesca Pace

    (Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Alberto Godio

    (Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Rajandrea Sethi

    (Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

Abstract

Groundwater Heat Pumps (GWHPs) are increasingly adopted for air conditioning in urban areas, thus reducing CO 2 emissions, and this growth needs to be managed to ensure the sustainability of the thermal alteration of aquifers. However, few studies have addressed the propagation of thermal plumes from open-loop geothermal systems from a long-term perspective. We provide a comprehensive sensitivity analysis, performed with numerical finite-element simulations, to assess how the size of the thermally affected zone is driven by hydrodynamic and thermal subsurface properties, the vadose zone and aquifer thickness, and plant setup. In particular, we focus the analysis on the length and width of thermal plumes, and on their time evolution. Numerical simulations are compared with two simplified methods, namely (i) replacing the time-varying thermal load with its yearly average and (ii) analytical formulae for advective heat transport in the aquifer. The former proves acceptable for the assessment of plume length, while the latter can be used to estimate the width of the thermally affected zone. The results highlight the strong influence of groundwater velocity on the plume size and, especially for its long-term evolution, of ground thermal properties and of subsurface geometrical parameters.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Piga & Alessandro Casasso & Francesca Pace & Alberto Godio & Rajandrea Sethi, 2017. "Thermal Impact Assessment of Groundwater Heat Pumps (GWHPs): Rigorous vs. Simplified Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:9:p:1385-:d:111688
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Matteo Antelmi & Francesco Turrin & Andrea Zille & Roberto Fedrizzi, 2023. "A New Type in TRNSYS 18 for Simulation of Borehole Heat Exchangers Affected by Different Groundwater Flow Velocities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P. & Efthymiou, Loukia & Michopoulos, Apostolos & Mavragani, Amaryllis & Anđelković, Aleksandar S. & Antolini, Francesco & Bacic, Mario & Bajare, Diana & Baralis, Matteo & Bog, 2020. "A review of the legal framework in shallow geothermal energy in selected European countries: Need for guidelines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P2), pages 2556-2571.
    4. Emanuele Bonamente & Andrea Aquino, 2019. "Environmental Performance of Innovative Ground-Source Heat Pumps with PCM Energy Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Simona Adrinek & Mitja Janža & Mihael Brenčič, 2023. "Impact of Open-Loop Systems on Groundwater Temperature in NE Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Taha Sezer & Abubakar Kawuwa Sani & Rao Martand Singh & Liang Cui, 2023. "Laboratory Investigation of Impact of Injection–Abstraction Rate and Groundwater Flow Velocity on Groundwater Heat Pump Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Pophillat, William & Attard, Guillaume & Bayer, Peter & Hecht-Méndez, Jozsef & Blum, Philipp, 2020. "Analytical solutions for predicting thermal plumes of groundwater heat pump systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P2), pages 2696-2707.
    8. Evangelos Bellos & Christos Tzivanidis, 2021. "Parametric Investigation of a Ground Source CO 2 Heat Pump for Space Heating," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-25, June.
    9. Randa Permanda & Tomoyuki Ohtani, 2022. "Thermal Impact by Open-Loop Geothermal Heat Pump Systems in Two Different Local Underground Conditions on the Alluvial Fan of the Nagara River, Gifu City, Central Japan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    10. García-Gil, Alejandro & Goetzl, Gregor & Kłonowski, Maciej R. & Borovic, Staša & Boon, David P. & Abesser, Corinna & Janza, Mitja & Herms, Ignasi & Petitclerc, Estelle & Erlström, Mikael & Holecek, Ja, 2020. "Governance of shallow geothermal energy resources," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    11. Serianz, Luka & Rman, Nina & Golobič, Iztok & Brenčič, Mihael, 2022. "Groundwater heat transfer and thermal outflow plume modelling in the Alps," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 751-763.

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