Thermomechanical Effects Induced by Energy Piles Operation in a Small Piled Raft

Abstract

AbstractIn this work, a series of fully coupled three-dimensional thermomechanical finite-element analyses has been carried out to investigate the mechanical and thermal interaction effects induced in a small piled raft equipped with energy piles during the operation of an air-conditioning system based on ground source heat pumps (GSHPs). In particular, attention has focused on (1) the axial-load redistribution among the various piles of the raft as a result of differential thermal dilations occurring in the pile and the soil during the transient heat conduction process and (2) the thermal interaction effects that may affect the heat exchange process when multiple energy piles are placed at short distances within the same piled raft. The results of the numerical simulations, which are in qualitative agreement with the limited experimental observations from full-scale tests on energy piles currently available in the literature, show that significant (positive and negative) axial-load changes can be experie...