A simple load transfer method for energy pile groups

This paper investigated the combined energy, economic and carbon performances of energy piles used for heating and cooling buildings, an issue that has received limited interest in the past. To address this knowledge gap, a 30-year numerical simulation, calibrated using field data, was conducted for variable building thermal loads, pile spacing, pile length and number of energy piles for a six-storey residential building in Melbourne, Australia. The energy pile system in the annual heating-only mode demonstrated a 75 % reduction in energy consumption and a 5 % reduction in energy costs compared to a natural gas boiler. The energy piles performances in the annual heating-and-cooling mode were significantly higher than in the heating-only mode, demonstrating a 39 % reduction in energy consumption, carbon emissions and energy costs compared to an air-source heat pump. Increasing the pile spacing from 2.05 m to 6.4 m, pile length from 10 m to 20 m, and number of energy piles from 38 to 114 increased the energy, economic and carbon benefits of energy piles by 76 %, 77 % and 119 %, respectively. The results highlight the importance of building thermal loads and pile configuration on assessing the energy, economic and carbon performances of energy piles during early design stages. 

Energy, economic, and carbon emission analysis of a residential building with an energy pile system

Micropiles are small-diameter foundation elements that are widely used in building refurbishment to reinforce existing foundations or provide new foundations where access for construction is difficult. Thermally-activated (TA) micropiles could be useful as an efficient means of providing cost-effective ground-coupling when shallow geothermal energy systems are considered in building rehabilitation. It is well-established that thermal activation of pile foundations results in thermo-mechanical interactions between the pile and the surrounding soil. These thermally-induced effects need to be examined to ensure that they do not adversely impact the load transfer function of the micropile. Numerical analysis is able to produce reliable predictions of thermo-mechanical behavior of TA piles, and this study applied this technique to examine the cyclic thermal behavior of micropiles, isolated and in groups. For the situations considered in this study, it is shown that during cyclic thermal activation, irrecoverable movements are unlikely to be significant in design terms, if the initial mobilization of the shaft resistance is low. Though stable, cyclic thermal movement amplitudes are large enough that they should be considered in design. The study highlights that large changes in thermal stress can develop and be locked-in to the response of long flexible piles, and that these should be verified in design. Further, as pile spacing reduces, thermal interference results in a loss of heat exchange capacity per pile, which has to be considered in the design of large groups of TA micropiles. Therefore, TA micropiles can offer an efficient and secure means of providing ground coupling in shallow geothermal energy systems. 

A Numerical Study of the Behavior of Micropile Foundations under Cyclic Thermal Loading

Energy Micropiles (EMPs) are a promising emerging technology thanks to their dual function of providing both structural support and energy supply to both pre-existing and new buildings. However, further experimental and numerical research is needed to fully understand their thermal and mechanical behaviour. In this work, a geothermal heat storage case study consisting of a group of EMPs installed in Turku (Finland) is presented. Beneath the main historic square of the city an underground car park was built, supported by more than 2000 end-bearing micropiles, including 561 EMPs consisting of a steel tube equipped with one U-shaped heat exchanger. Thermal energy is stored underground using solar collectors placed beneath the square’s stone floor. In wintertime, geothermal heat is used to de-ice the square floor and for parking space heating. During site construction, thermal response tests (TRTs) were carried out on EMPs with different lengths and filling materials to assess the mean thermal conductivity of the soil. 3D numerical finite element simulations are presented to back-analyse the TRTs and investigate the effects of the thermal conductivity of the filling material and U-pipe shank spacing in EMP thermal performance. Further analysis is ongoing to assess the thermo-mechanical behaviour of EMPs and the surrounding soil at the Turku site. 

Numerical Analysis of the Behaviour of Energy Micropiles Used for Heat Storage: A Case Study in Turku (Finland)

Modeling of Thermomechanical Energy Pile Behavior with Temperature-Induced Radial Effects

The influence of initial shaft resistance mobilisation in the response of seasonally, thermally-activated pile foundations in granular media

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The influence of initial shaft resistance mobilisation in the response of seasonally, thermally-activated pile foundations in granular media