"Experiment, Modelling and Simulation of High-Temperature Ground Thermal Storage Systems"

能源效率和节能的关键技术是热能储存系统。它通常有助于减少系统中热能需求和供应之间的不匹配，并提高系统的效率。因此，在建筑物、后院或前院下面随时可以获得的地面热能储存，在未来应对气候变化、减少化石燃料消耗和提高可再生能源利用率方面可以发挥重要作用。这项技术还可以通过区域供暖系统扩展到社区，艾伯塔省奥科托克斯的独一无二的Drake Landing Solar社区就是这样。自2007年以来，52户住宅80%的居住空间供暖需求是通过从高温(高达80°C)的地热储存库中回收夏季储存的太阳能来满足的。相当于每个家庭每年减少约72千兆焦的热能(或1920立方米天然气)和3.6吨温室气体排放。为了在加拿大或全世界广泛应用这种技术，需要一个可靠的工具来以最节能和最经济的方式模拟和设计优化的系统。拟议的研究将开发出这样一个可靠、强大的计算机软件工具。该软件程序将能够模拟地下热水耦合运动的复杂性质，从而能够实现适当规模的地面热能存储系统-即，它将能够在30至50年或更长的典型使用寿命内匹配热能的需求(例如，建筑物供暖)和供应(例如，太阳能集热器提供的太阳能)。为了实现这一目标，将需要进行实验和建模工作，以验证或模拟土壤中的热湿耦合运动、土壤导热系数和地热交换器的理论。一旦开发和验证，所有的模型将被实施到一个计算机程序中，用于模拟地面热交换器系统和地面之间的热交换。该软件应该能够预测和补救任何潜在的问题，如地面干燥，这将降低系统的热性能。

A key technology in energy efficiency and conservation is a thermal energy storage system. It often helps to reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of thermal energy in a system and improves the system's efficiency. Thus, a ground thermal energy store, readily available under a building, backyard or front yard, can play an important role in the future to combat climate change, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and increase renewable energy utilization. The technology can also be extended to communities through district heating systems, as is the case at the one-of-a-kind Drake Landing Solar Community in Okotoks, Alberta. Here, since 2007 80% of residential space heating needs for 52 houses have been met by retrieving solar energy stored during the summer season from a high-temperature (up to 80°C) ground thermal energy store. The equivalent reduction is approximately 72 GJ of heating energy (or 1920 m3 of natural gas) and 3.6 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per home, per year. In order to widely use such technology in Canada or the world, a reliable tool is required to simulate and design an optimized system in the most energy- and cost-efficient way. The proposed research will develop such a reliable, powerful computer software tool. The software program will have the capability to simulate the complex nature of coupled heat and water movement in the ground, such that an appropriate sizing of a ground thermal energy storage system can be achieved - that is, it will be able to match the demand (e.g., heating for buildings) and supply (e.g., solar energy from solar collectors) of thermal energy over a typical service life of 30 to 50 years or longer. To meet this objective, experiment and modelling work will be required to validate or model the theory of coupled heat and moisture movement in soils, soil thermal conductivity and ground heat exchangers. Once developed and validated, all the models will be implemented into a computer program for modelling the heat exchange between a ground heat exchanger system and the ground. The software should be able to predict and remedy any potential problems, such as dry out of ground, which would degrade the thermal performance of the system.