Abstract Plate ground heat exchangers (GHEs) are renowned for having the highest heat transfer rate per unit land area and could be of interest when the accessible land area is limited. In this study, a 3-D numerical model is developed to investigate the thermal performance of vertical plate GHEs at the real-scale level. The proposed model accounts for ambient temperature fluctuations and building cooling load variations and is such developed to couple the GHE to the heat pump. The effects of different parameters, including GHE spacing, buried depth, the height of GHE, soil type, and climate on the thermal performance of vertical plate GHEs, are comprehensively investigated for the first time. The optimum distance between two adjacent GHEs is obtained to be about 4 m to avoid the adverse effect of thermal interference. It is demonstrated that increasing GHE spacing dramatically increases cooling load per unit GHE area for values below 4 m while decreasing cooling load per unit land area. As a case in point, increasing GHE spacing from 2 m to 4 m increases cooling load per unit GHE area by 30.1 % while lowering cooling load per unit land area by 34.9 %. It can be inferred from the simulation results that soil type has the most critical effect on the thermal performance of vertical plate GHEs, and better thermal performance can be achieved when GHEs are buried in a soil type with higher thermal conductivity as well as higher heat capacity. The results also indicate that selecting proper values for buried depth and height is in fact finding a compromise between thermal performance and excavation cost. Investigating the effect of climate reveals that the maximum cooling load per unit GHE area is decreased by 37.7 % when the GCHP system operates in Ahvaz (hot climate) rather than Tehran (mild climate). However, when the GCHP system is designed to operate in Tabriz (cold climate), the maximum cooling load improves by 17.4 %.

中文翻译：

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具有立式板式换热器的地耦合热泵系统的数值模拟：综合参数研究

摘要 板式地埋式换热器 (GHE) 以每单位土地面积具有最高的传热率而闻名，并且在可利用的土地面积有限时可能会引起人们的兴趣。在这项研究中，开发了一个 3-D 数值模型来研究垂直板 GHE 在实际尺度上的热性能。所提出的模型考虑了环境温度波动和建筑冷负荷变化，并且被开发用于将 GHE 耦合到热泵。首次综合研究了GHE间距、埋深、GHE高度、土壤类型、气候等不同参数对垂直板GHE热性能的影响。获得两个相邻 GHE 之间的最佳距离约为 4 m，以避免热干扰的不利影响。结果表明，增加 GHE 间距会显着增加单位 GHE 面积低于 4 m 的冷负荷，同时降低单位土地面积的冷负荷。例如，将 GHE 间距从 2 m 增加到 4 m，单位 GHE 面积的冷负荷增加了 30.1%，同时单位土地面积的冷负荷降低了 34.9%。从模拟结果可以看出，土壤类型对垂直板GHE的热性能影响最为关键，将GHE埋入导热系数和热容量较高的土壤类型中可以获得更好的热性能. 结果还表明，为掩埋深度和高度选择合适的值实际上是在热性能和挖掘成本之间找到折衷方案。调查气候的影响表明，当 GCHP 系统在阿瓦士（炎热气候）而不是德黑兰（温和气候）运行时，每单位 GHE 面积的最大冷负荷降低了 37.7%。然而，当 GCHP 系统设计为在大不里士（寒冷气候）运行时，最大冷负荷提高了 17.4%。