Optimizing the Layout of a Ground Source Heat Pump System with a Groundwater–Thermal Coupling Model

Abstract

The exploitation and utilization of shallow geothermal energy are of great significance to realizing China’s “double carbon” goal and promoting a green economy and social development. However, many projects using ground source heat pumps to exploit shallow geothermal energy have disrupted the thermal balance of the geothermal field due to insufficient preliminary research, affecting the sustainable utilization of shallow geothermal energy. Therefore, a 3D groundwater–thermal coupling model was established in this paper using the geotemperature data of a ground source heat pump system in Xi’an. This study investigated the response characteristics of the groundwater–thermal system to the ground source heat pump system using the numerical simulation method and discussed the optimal layout scheme of the system on this basis. After years of simulation, it was found that long-term operation of the ground source heat pump system under actual operation produces “cold accumulation”. In addition to artificial intervention of the groundwater flow field, the effects of the system operating parameters and layout settings are also investigated to alleviate this cold accumulation. The results show that changing the operating parameters so that the heat transfer is the same in winter and summer, cross-locating the cooling holes with the heating holes, and placing multiple pumping and recharge wells downstream can alleviate the cold accumulation in the heat exchange zone. The results of this numerical simulation study provide an important reference for solutions to mitigate the accumulation of ground cold and heat in developing shallow geothermal energy using borehole heat exchangers and to suppress the downstream geotemperature disturbance via the ground source heat pump system.