Experimental Study on Thermal Balance in Soft Clay Area During GSHP Operation

Geothermal energy resources, such as a green and clean renewable energy, are utilized all over the world, especially in soft clay areas along coastal cities in China, such as Shanghai. However, the operation of the ground-buried heat exchanger potentially affects the initial temperature field and the thermal balance, which will probably result in some potential engineering or environmental problems. This paper presents results from a series of large-scale laboratory modeling experiments which were conducted to study the thermal balance in saturated soft clay during the operation of the ground source heat pump (GSHP) system. In experiments, thermal phenomena are induced by a heat exchanger which is embedded in the testing soils and investigated by temperature sensor arrays. It summarizes the experimental methodologies and presents the time-dependent temperature distribution within the testing soils both in operation stage and the re-stabilization duration. Characteristics of thermal balance are discussed in two specific parameters of relative time ratio and temperature factor by comparing summer and winter cases. The thermal mattress effect is proposed to provide valuable guidelines for the utilization and operation of the GSHP system in soft clay areas.