US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Geothermal Energy Piles: A New Sustainable Green Energy Solution for Middle East Buildings

1128023本项目支持弗吉尼亚理工大学James Martin博士、Guney Olgun博士和埃及开罗大学Amr Darrag博士的合作研究项目。他们计划对地热能桩进行研究，将其作为一种新的可持续绿色建筑能源解决方案，特别是在中东地区。世界各地都对探索替代能源有浓厚的兴趣。能源需求的增长、自然资源的枯竭以及化石燃料消费产生的温室气体排放的不利影响都是驱动因素。能源桩是一种较新的深层基础工程技术，旨在获取和利用地面相对恒定的温度（即从地下提取热能），为结构提供有效的加热和冷却。在理想条件下，它们可以将建筑物的供暖和制冷成本降低80%，同时有助于减少温室气体排放问题。尽管在过去的十年中，能源桩的使用在欧洲和日本稳步增长，但在它们能够在全球范围内普遍使用之前，还需要进行更多的研究。智力优势：有必要研究能源桩的长期热-力学行为。与埃及研究人员的合作将推进美国pi目前正在进行的研究。pi计划进行全尺寸现场测试，这将提高对能源桩行为的理解，并开发实验室测试设备，这将提高能源桩的测试能力，包括继续进行能源桩的有限元分析。由pi组织的研讨会已经确定了这些桩广泛使用的某些障碍，例如缺乏长期的能源桩性能数据，缺乏完善的设计和测试标准，缺乏特定区域的现场案例历史，业主和工程师缺乏意识，以及安装地热井的规定各不相同。这项建议将有助于解决这些问题。该项目将扩大PIs正在进行的工作，目前涉及欧洲和美国，通过开发区域特定的现场性能数据来优化能源桩设计并促进埃及的使用。更广泛的影响：目前，工程师、承包商和业主都不愿意在基础中加入能源桩，因为他们担心热效应会影响基础的承载能力。这项研究可能有助于减少他们的一些担忧。为此，美国的私人投资机构正在与深度基金会行业合作。在建筑地基中使用能源桩，可加强绿色建筑工作，提高能源效益，减少能源需求。这项工作将促进能源桩在中东和美国的广泛使用。能源桩可能是发展净零能耗建筑的重要组成部分。该项目涉及重要的国际合作，包括为弗吉尼亚理工大学的博士生和开罗大学的学生提供独特的教育机会，并可能继续与Deep Foundation Institute （DFI）合作。该项目将促进这项新技术在中东地区的广泛应用，因为中东地区越来越需要更有效的冷却解决方案。此外，由于这项工作涉及一项创新的能源技术，它具有在绿色能源领域为埃及创造就业机会的巨大潜力。该项目还将有助于为开罗大学和弗吉尼亚理工大学土木工程联合学位课程奠定基础。研究结果将通过期刊、互联网传播，并纳入学术课程和PIs？ASCE， FERC， USACE等专业短期课程。DFI和美国绿色建筑委员会（USGBC）将是这项工作的主要合作伙伴。

1128023 This project supports a cooperative research project by Dr. James Martin, Dr. Guney Olgun both at Virginia Tech. and Dr. Amr Darrag, Cairo University, Egypt. They plan to conduct research on Geothermal Energy Piles as a new sustainable green Energy solution for buildings, especially in the Middle East. There is a strong interest around the world in exploring alternative energy sources. Among the driving forces are growing energy demand, depleting natural resources and the adverse effects of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption. Energy Piles are a relatively new deep foundation engineering technology designed to access and exploit the relatively constant temperature of the ground (i.e., they extract heat energy from the ground) for efficient heating and cooling of structures. In ideal conditions, they can reduce heating and cooling costs of buildings by as much as 80%, and simultaneously help reduce the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. Although the use of Energy Piles has seen steady increasing usage in Europe and Japan over the past decade, more research is needed before they can enjoy common usage worldwide. Intellectual merits: There is a need to investigate the long term thermo-mechanical behavior of energy piles. The collaboration with researchers in Egypt would advance research that the US PIs are currently conducting. The PIs plan to conduct a full scale field test which will improve understanding of the behavior energy piles, and to develop laboratory test equipment which will improve testing capabilities for energy pile, including continuing to conduct FEM analysis of energy piles. A workshop organized by the PIs has identified certain barriers to the wide use of these piles, such as the lack of long-term Energy Pile performance data, a lack of refined design and testing standards, a lack of region specific field case histories, a lack of awareness among owners and engineers, and widely varying regulations for installation of geothermal wells. This proposal will help addressing these issues. The project will expand the PIs' ongoing work, currently involving Europe and the US, by developing region specific field performance data needed to optimize Energy Pile design and promote usage in Egypt. Broader impacts: Currently there is reluctance by engineers, contractors and owners to incorporate energy piles in foundations because of concerns of the thermal effects on the load carrying capacities of the foundations. This research could help to reduce some of their concerns. The US PIs are working with the deep foundations industry for this purpose. The use of energy piles in building foundations will enhance green construction efforts directed towards increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy demands. The work will promote wider usage of energy piles in the Middle East and in the US. Energy Pile may be an important part to the development of net-zero energy buildings. The project involves a significant international collaboration, including unique educational opportunities for a PhD student at VirginiaTech and students at Cairo University, and will likely continue partnering with Deep Foundation Institute (DFI). The project will promote wider usage of this new technology in the Middle East where more efficient solutions for cooling are increasingly needed. Also, because this work involves an innovative energy technology, it has great potential to create Egyptian jobs in the field of green energy. The project would also help lay the groundwork for a joint degree program in civil engineering between Cairo University and Virginia Tech. The findings will be disseminated via journals, the Internet, and incorporated into academic courses and the PIs? professional short courses for ASCE, FERC, USACE, etc. Key partners in this effort will be DFI and the US Green Building Council (USGBC).