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A preliminary study of the effect of groundwater flow on the thermal front created by borehole heat exchangers

2014-12, Tolooiyan, Ali, Hemmingway, Phil

This paper presents an analysis performed using a coupled TEMP/W-SEEP/W finite element model to consider both the conducive and convective effects of groundwater flow on the thermal regime created by a ground source energy system. The change in the development of the sub-surface thermal regime created by ground source energy borehole heat exchangers caused by a groundwater flow across a site, relative to a scenario where groundwater flow does not exist is examined. Analysis is performed using finite element formulations of both single borehole and multi borehole systems. The results of this work show that even a modest groundwater flow across a site can lead to a significant change in the development of the sub-surface thermal regime. It also shows that groundwater flow can result in implications for: proposed developments incorporating ground source energy systems; nearby existing ground source energy systems; potential future nearby ground source energy systems and the use of established software packages currently used for the design of ground source energy systems in the industry.

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Numerical and finite element analysis of heat transfer in a closed loop geothermal system

2013-08, Hemmingway, Phil, Tolooiyan, Ali

Analysis of the thermal regime created by a geothermal borehole heat exchanger is performed using a closed form radial heat flow equation, a geothermal borehole heat exchanger design tool and a finite element model. Climatic, heat exchanger construction and building load data are entered into the heat exchanger design tool in order to create a theoretical model along with thermal parameters from a number of geological formations. Output data from the design tool model are used in conjunction with the closed form radial heat flow equation to calculate the predicted temperature with respect to time and distance from the heat exchanger for the modelled ground formations. The output data from the design tool is also used to create a number of finite element method models against which the predictions calculated using the closed form radial heat flow equation can be compared. A good correlation between the temperatures predicted by the finite element models and the closed form equation calculations is observed. However when used within its recommended limiting conditions, the closed form equation is shown to slightly underestimate the temperature of the ground when compared to the finite element model predictions. The limiting conditions associated with the closed form equation are discussed in the context of the output from the finite element method models.

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Modelling the Cone Penetration Test in sand using Cavity Expansion and Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian Finite Element Methods

2011-06, Tolooiyan, Ali, Gavin, Kenneth

The paper considers two techniques to model the Cone Penetration Test (CPT) end resistance, qc in a dense sand deposit using commercial finite element programmes. In the first approach, Plaxis was used to perform spherical cavity expansion analyses at multiple depths. Two soil models, namely; the Mohr–Coulomb (MC) and Hardening Soil (HS) models were utilized. When calibrated using simple laboratory element tests, the HS model was found to provide good estimates of qc. However, at shallow depths, where the over-consolidation ratio of the sand was highest, the relatively large horizontal stresses developed prevented the full development of the failure zone resulting in under-estimation of the qc value. The second approach involved direct simulation of cone penetration using a large-strain analysis implemented in Abaqus/Explicit. The Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) technique was used to prevent excessive mesh deformation. Although the Druker–Prager soil model used was not as sophisticated as the HS model, excellent agreement was achieved between the predicted and measured qc profiles.

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An investigation of correlation factors linking footing resistance on sand with cone penetration test results

2012-11, Gavin, Kenneth, Tolooiyan, Ali

Significant research effort has led to improvements in our ability to estimate the ultimate bearing resistance of footings in sand. These techniques often estimate the footing resistance at relatively large displacements, typically 10% of the footing width, qb0.1. Cone Penetration Test (CPT) design methods typically link qb0.1 and qc through a constant reduction factor, a. A range of a factors for shallow footings have been proposed, some methods suggest that a is constant and while others that it varies with footing width and depth (or stress level). There is a dearth of field data with which to compare these correlation factors, in particular where foundation width and depth have been varied in the same ground conditions. For this reason finite element analyses have proven to be a useful tool for performing the parametric studies required to asses factors controlling a. This paper describes the results of numerical analyses performed to investigate a factors for soil profiles which were calibrated using the results of the CPT tests performed at a dense sand test-bed site. The numerical model was first used to perform parametric 2 analyses to consider the effect of footing width, B and footing depth, D on the a factor mobilised in dense Blessington sand. In order to assess the effects of relative density, footing tests in a range of natural sands with variable in-situ densities were modeled. The results of the finite element analyses suggest that a direct correlation between qb0.1 and qc can be established at a given test site which is independent of footing width and depth and is relatively weakly dependent on the sands relative density if the zone of influence of the foundation considered is large enough.