Comparison of two different models for pile thermal response test interpretation

Abstract

Thermal response tests (TRTs) are regularly used to characterise the thermal resistance of borehole heat exchangers and to assess the thermal conductivity of the surrounding ground. It is becoming common to apply the same in situ testing technique to pile heat exchangers, despite international guidance suggesting that TRTs should be limited to hole diameters of 152 mm (6 in.). This size restriction arises from the increased thermal inertia of larger diameter heat exchangers, which invalidates the assumption of a steady state within the concrete needed to interpret the test data by traditional line source analysis techniques. However, new methods of analysis for pile heat exchangers have recently been developed that take account of the transient behaviour of the pile concrete. This paper applies these new methods to data from a multi-stage TRT conducted on a small diameter test pile. The thermal conductivity and thermal resistance determined using this method are then compared with those from traditional analytical approaches based on a line source analysis. Differences between the approaches are discussed, along with the observation that the thermal resistance may not be constant over the different test stages.