ORCID
- John S. McCartney: 0009-0003-6723-6616
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of parallel and series U-loop configurations on heat transfer in energy piles. Heating experiments were conducted on a set of four field-scale energy piles installed under a five-storey building, sharing identical dimensions (diameter = 0.9 m and length = 15 m) but varying numbers of U-loops (loops 1, 2, 3, and 4, in Piles 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively). The investigation highlights the significance of fluid flow, temperature, U-loop quantity and configuration on heat transfer within solitary and grouped energy piles. In the parallel configuration, heat exchange occurs concurrently across all U-loops, proportional to the flow rate. Conversely, in the series configuration, the initial U-loops dominate heat exchange, with subsequent U-loops showing diminished effectiveness in contributing to the overall heat transfer. For identical flow rates in the individual U-loops of both configurations, the group of energy piles employing parallel U-loops exhibited higher heat exchange. The findings provide practical insights into optimising U-loop configurations to improve heat exchange between the pile and the surrounding soil under the studied boundary conditions.
Keywords
Energy piles, Field tests, Group effects, Heat exchange, Parallel U-loops, Series U-loops
DOI Link
Publication Date
2025-01-01
Publication Title
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment
Volume
41
Deposit Date
2026-10-28
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional Links
Recommended Citation
Faizal, M., Bouazza, A., & McCartney, J. (2025) 'The impact of heat exchanger loop configuration on heat transfer in energy piles', Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 41. Available at: 10.1016/j.gete.2025.100639