Date of Award
2014
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.Sc.
Department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Keywords
Applied sciences, Coaxial, Computational fluid dynamics, Fluent, Geothermal enegry, Ground source heat pumps, U-bend
Supervisor
Bolisetti, Tirupati
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The performance of ground source heat pumps relies greatly on the heat transfer efficiency throughout the ground loop configuration. Vertical ground loops can employ a U-Bend or a Coaxial pipe configuration which generates vortical structures and turbulence, enhancing the heat transfer process. For the U-Bend, the Dean Number (radius of curvature) and the Reynolds Number (inlet velocity) are tested. For the Coaxial, the inner pipe offset, and the Reynolds Number (inlet velocity) are tested for improved configurations. For the U-Bend, it was found the Reynolds Number dominates. In the Coaxial system, it was found that inner pipe offset destroys the heat flux of the system. Comparing the two systems, the Coaxial pipe shows both lower pressure loss and increased heat flux at equivalent inlet flow rates.
Recommended Citation
Cvetkovski, Christopher G., "Modelling of flow and heat transport in vertical loop ground heat exchangers" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5158.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/5158