Evaluation of Performance of Grouts and Pipe Sections for Closed-loop Vertical Ground Heat Exchanger by In-situ Thermal Response Test

In performing a series of in-situ thermal response tests, the effective thermal conductivities of six vertical closed-loop ground heat exchangers were experimentally evaluated and compared one another, which were constructed in a test bed in Wonju. To compare thermal efficiency of the ground heat exchangers in field, the six boreholes were constructed with different construction conditions: grouting materials (cement vs. bentonite), different additives (silica sand vs. graphite) and the shape of pipe-sections (general U-loop type vs. 3 pipe-type). From the test results, it can be concluded that cement grouting has a higher effective thermal conductivity than bentonite grouting, and the efficiency of graphite better performs than silica sand as a thermally-enhancing addictive. In addition, a new 3 pipe-type heat exchanger provides less thermal interference between the inlet and outlet pipe than the conventional U-loop type heat exchanger, which results in superior thermal performance. Based on the results from the in-situ thermal response tests, a series of economic analyses have been made to show the applicability of the new addictives and 3 pipe-type heat exchanger.