.Buildings.Fluid.Geothermal.Borefields.BaseClasses.HeatTransfer.ThermalResponseFactors.gFunction

Information

This function implements the g-function evaluation method introduced by Cimmino and Bernier (see: Cimmino and Bernier (2014), Cimmino (2018), and Prieto and Cimmino (2021)) based on the g-function function concept first introduced by Eskilson (1987). The g-function gives the relation between the variation of the borehole wall temperature at a time t and the heat extraction and injection rates at all times preceding time t as

where T_b is the borehole wall temperature, T_g is the undisturbed ground temperature, Q is the heat injection rate into the ground through the borehole wall per unit borehole length, k_s is the soil thermal conductivity and g is the g-function.

The g-function is constructed from the combination of the combination of the finite line source (FLS) solution (see Buildings.Fluid.Geothermal.Borefields.BaseClasses.HeatTransfer.ThermalResponseFactors.finiteLineSource), the cylindrical heat source (CHS) solution (see Buildings.Fluid.Geothermal.Borefields.BaseClasses.HeatTransfer.ThermalResponseFactors.cylindricalHeatSource), and the infinite line source (ILS) solution (see Buildings.Fluid.Geothermal.Borefields.BaseClasses.HeatTransfer.ThermalResponseFactors.infiniteLineSource). To obtain the g-function of a bore field, the bore field is first divided into nClu groups of similarly behaving boreholes. Each group is represented by a single equivalent borehole. Each equivalent borehole is then divided into a series of nSeg segments of equal length, each modeled as a line source of finite length. The finite line source solution is superimposed in space to obtain a system of equations that gives the relation between the heat injection rate at each of the segments and the borehole wall temperature at each of the segments. The system is solved to obtain the uniform borehole wall temperature required at any time to maintain a constant total heat injection rate (Q_tot = 2πk_sH_tot) into the bore field. The uniform borehole wall temperature is then equal to the finite line source based g-function.

Since this g-function is based on line sources of heat, rather than cylinders, the g-function is corrected to consider the cylindrical geometry. The correction factor is then the difference between the cylindrical heat source solution and the infinite line source solution, as proposed by Li et al. (2014) as

g(t) = g_FLS + (g_CHS - g_ILS)

Implementation

The calculation of the g-function is separated into two regions: the short-time region and the long-time region. In the short-time region, corresponding to times t < 1 hour, heat interaction between boreholes and axial variations of heat injection rate are not considered. The g-function is calculated using only one borehole and one segment. In the long-time region, corresponding to times t > 1 hour, all boreholes are represented as series of nSeg line segments and the g-function is evaluated as described above.

References

Cimmino, M. and Bernier, M. 2014. A semi-analytical method to generate g-functions for geothermal bore fields. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 70: 641-650.

Cimmino, M. 2018. Fast calculation of the g-functions of geothermal borehole fields using similarities in the evaluation of the finite line source solution. Journal of Building Performance Simulation 11(6): 655-668.

Eskilson, P. 1987. Thermal analysis of heat extraction boreholes. Ph.D. Thesis. Department of Mathematical Physics. University of Lund. Sweden.

Li, M., Li, P., Chan, V. and Lai, A.C.K. 2014. Full-scale temperature response function (G-function) for heat transfer by borehole heat exchangers (GHEs) from sub-hour to decades. Applied Energy 136: 197-205.

Prieto, C. and Cimmino, M. 2021. Thermal interactions in large irregular fields of geothermal boreholes: the method of equivalent boreholes. Journal of Building Performance Simulation 14(4): 446-460. doi:10.1080/19401493.2021.1968953.

Interface

function gFunction
  extends Modelica.Icons.Function;
  input Integer nBor "Number of boreholes";
  input Modelica.Units.SI.Position cooBor[nBor, 2] "Coordinates of boreholes";
  input Modelica.Units.SI.Height hBor "Borehole length";
  input Modelica.Units.SI.Height dBor "Borehole buried depth";
  input Modelica.Units.SI.Radius rBor "Borehole radius";
  input Modelica.Units.SI.ThermalDiffusivity aSoi "Ground thermal diffusivity used in g-function evaluation";
  input Integer nSeg "Number of line source segments per borehole";
  input Integer nTimSho "Number of time steps in short time region";
  input Integer nTimLon "Number of time steps in long time region";
  input Real ttsMax "Maximum adimensional time for gfunc calculation";
  input Integer nClu "Number of clusters";
  input Integer labels[nBor] "Cluster label associated with each data point";
  input Integer cluSiz[nClu] "Size of the clusters";
  input Real relTol = 0.02 "Relative tolerance on distance between boreholes";
  output Modelica.Units.SI.Time tGFun[nTimSho + nTimLon] "Time of g-function evaluation";
  output Real g[nTimSho + nTimLon] "g-function";
end gFunction;

Revisions

• June 9, 2022 by Massimo Cimmino:
  Updated the function to use the more efficient method of Prieto and Cimmino (2021).
• November 16, 2022, by Michael Wetter:
  Initialized variable Done.
  See OpenModelica, #9707.
• March 22, 2018 by Massimo Cimmino:
  First implementation.