Raman-based distributed temperature sensing (DTS) is a valuable tool for field testing and validating heat transfer models in borehole heat exchanger (BHE) and ground source heat pump (GSHP) applications. However, temperature uncertainty is rarely reported in the literature. In this paper, a new calibration method was proposed for single-ended DTS configurations, along with a method to remove fictitious temperature drifts due to ambient air variations. The methods were implemented for a distributed thermal response test (DTRT) case study in an 800 m deep coaxial BHE. The results show that the calibration method and temperature drift correction are robust and give adequate results, with a temperature uncertainty increasing non-linearly from about 0.4 K near the surface to about 1.7 K at 800 m. The temperature uncertainty is dominated by the uncertainty in the calibrated parameters for depths larger than 200 m. The paper also offers insights into thermal features observed during the DTRT, including a heat flux inversion along the borehole depth and the slow temperature homogenization under circulation.

Changes in the ground surface temperature, as it can occur in built-up areas or due to climate change, affect the temperatures of geothermal boreholes. Analytical models for the thermal simulation of boreholes and consid-ering this factor have been proposed. However, they all impose a uniform heat extraction boundary condition along the borehole walls. This boundary condition overestimates the temperature change in the underground caused by the borehole heat extraction and underestimates it in case of rejection. More accurate results are most often obtained by imposing a uniform temperature boundary condition.In this paper, we propose a new model to calculate the boreholes wall temperature taking into account both the heat extractions/rejections from all the boreholes in the area and the change in ground surface temperature. The model is tailored for areas with independent ground source heat pumps and imposes a uniform temperature boundary condition along the borehole walls, overcoming the limitation of the existing models.We apply the new model to a real Swedish neighbourhood and show that existing systems may already be significantly affected by the increased ground surface temperature due to urbanization. We also compare our new model with an existing similar model and show that while the two models provide similar results for smaller areas, their difference tends to be relevant for bigger areas - including the real Swedish neighbourhood analysed -thus making the application of our model important for neighbourhood-and city-scale studies.

Digitalization offers new, unprecedented possibilities to increase the energy efficiencyand improve the indoor conditions in buildings in a cost-efficient way. Smart buildings are seen bymany stakeholders as the way forward. Smart buildings feature advanced monitoring and controlsystems that allow a better control of the buildings’ indoor spaces, but it is becoming evident that themassive amount of data produced in smart buildings is rarely used. This work presents a long-termevaluation of a smart building testbed for one year; the building features state-of-the-art monitoringcapability and local energy generation (PV). The analysis shows room for improving energy efficiencyand indoor comfort due to non-optimal control settings; for instance, average indoor temperaturesin all winter months were above 24 ◦C. The analysis of electricity and domestic hot water use hasshown a relevant spread in average use, with single users consuming approximately four times morethan the average users. The combination of CO2 and temperature sensor was sufficient to pinpointthe anomalous operation of windows in wintertime, which has an impact on energy use for spaceheating. Although the quantification of the impact of users on the overall energy performance ofthe building was beyond the scope of this paper, this study showcases that modern commercialmonitoring systems for buildings have the potential to identify anomalies. The evidence collectedin the paper suggests that this data could be used to promote energy-efficient behaviors amongbuilding occupants and shows that cost-effective actions could be carried out if data generated by themonitoring and control systems were used more extensively.

The report presents energy system performances for the property Forskningen consisting of three modern buildings designed as plus energy houses with 667 PV panels and a heated area of about10,590 m2. The property is located in central Stockholm, Sweden. Special features of the buildings and their shared energy system are:

• 11 boreholes of variables lengths (225-350 m) organized in a “flower” configuration with Upipes

• 1 research borehole (100 m) with coaxial borehole heat exchanger

• heating through energy-recovery ventilation system

• wastewater heat recovery

• Domestic Hot Water (DHW) needs predominant (8 m3 DHW storage)

• desuperheaters used for DHW production

• vapor injection heat pump cycles

• no auxiliary heating system

• apartments well-equipped with sensors (more than 2000 sensors and alarms)

• distributed temperature measurement in boreholes with fiber optics

The monitoring period only extends from 2019-05-26 to 2020-02-03 (except for electricity consumption and production for which data is available for about two years). The energy needs for a full year could nevertheless be estimated and are: 257 MWh/yr (24.3 kWh/(m2 yr)) for heating and 442 MWh/yr (41.7kWh/(m2 yr)) for DHW. The ventilation heat recovery (no included in the heating needs) are estimated to cover a large part of the heating supplied to the buildings (about 70%). Performance factors (PFs) 1, 4, 4+, 5 and 5+ are presented (based on the definitions developed in the Annex 52, see part “Performance metrics” for more details). In addition, two extra PFs are introduced,5* and 5*’ which account for the whole fan energy and the ventilation heat recovery, respectively. For the whole monitored period, PF1 is about 3.6 while PF4 and PF5 are about 3.0 and 2.5, respectively. The electricity values available for about two years allows checking the claim of the buildings being plus energy. Unfortunately, there is a deficit of consumption varying between 50 to 90 MWh/yr. Besides performances, uncertainties are briefly discussed and the author performs verifications on the available data. It appears that data cannot be blindly trusted and requires a minimum level of interpretation. A short investigation about the relevance of cooling the ventilation incoming air to recharge the boreholes is conducted and it counter-intuitively appears that it can make sense to do so. Finally, a list of 10 improvement measures is provided, though some of them perhaps pertain to design considerations and improvements.

Uncertainty analysis is an important tool to help understand the significance of results from any measurement program. These guidelines are aimed at the application of uncertainty analysis to measurements made to monitor performance of ground-source heat pump systems.

Thermal response tests are used to estimate the thermal properties of the ground and the borehole heat exchanger being tested. They are thus important for the design of borehole thermal energy storages and ground source heat pump systems. In this study, a theoretical framework is proposed in order to investigate if noise on the heat rate leads to a bias in the parameter estimation. Under the sole assumption of a linear time-invariant system and the use of the sum of squared errors as cost function, it is shown analytically that estimates are in fact biased when the heat rate is corrupted by noise. To understand how large this bias can be, a Monte-Carlo study is performed. It includes more than 126,000 simulations with different noises, thermal parameters and heat rate profiles. Negative biases as high as -0.44 W/(m K) (11%) and -11.10(-3) m K/W (4.1%) are observed for the thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance estimates, respectively. In addition, the parameter estimation is stochastic due to randomness of measurement noises. This cannot be ignored since only one thermal response test is performed, in general. Population of estimates with 95% confidence intervals as large as 1.0 W/(m K) (25%) and 24.10(-3) m K/W (9.4%) appear in this study. Although the bias and confidence intervals are not significant in all simulated cases, they cannot be generally disregarded and one should therefore be mindful of this potential issue when analyzing thermal response tests. An observed trend is that the confidence intervals and bias are higher for higher parameter values, with a particular dependency on thermal conductivity. To reduce the bias and spread of the estimates, having larger heat rate per meter appears to be a good strategy. Having a higher sampling frequency and/or longer tests might also help, but only in reducing the spread of the estimates, not the bias.

This paper presents a methodology for designing Laboratory Borehole Storages (LABS) intended to generate reference Thermal Response Functions (TRFs) for model validation. The design method is based on analytically-derived invariance requirements demanding the conservation of the Fourier and Biot numbers. Accordingly, convective boundary conditions (BCs) need to be up-scaled when downscaling the borehole field, especially for short boreholes. Indeed, numerical simulations show that natural convection as top BC leads to TRF values more than 14 % higher than a Dirichlet BC. In addition, this BC effect is proposed as a possible explanation for previously reported differences between experimental and analytical results. Finally, the numerical simulations are used to find suitable size – height and radius of twice the borehole length–and test durations for the LABS.

Standard thermal response tests (TRT) are typically carried out to evaluate subsurface thermal parameters for the design and performance evaluation of borehole heat exchangers (BHE). Typical interpretation methods apply analytical or numerical solutions, which assume that the ground is homogeneous, isotropic and infinite. However in reality, the underground is commonly stratified and heterogeneous, and therefore thermal properties might significantly vary with depth. Thus, novel instruments and methods are necessary to characterize thermophysical properties along the BHE. In this study, two novel in-borehole temperature measurement instruments, Geoball and Geowire, are assessed during the performance of a distributed TRT (DTRT). The latter is evaluated in comparison to the widely used fiber optical thermometers. Our results suggest that both novel instruments have several advantages. For instance, both devices are able to instantaneously measure temperature with a higher spatial resolution. In addition, our study evaluates two methods to estimate depth-specific thermal conductivities: (1) a computer program based on infinite line source (ILS) approach and (2) a recently suggested inverse numerical procedure. For the latter less data is required, while demonstrating an accurate resolution to even detect thin conductive geological layers. Moreover, the average value of the depth-specific local effective estimates for both methods is significantly close to the effective subsurface conductivity of 3.20 W/m-K calculated based on standard TRT: 1.27 % below for the computer program and 0.28 % below for the numerical procedure.

This report presents the obtained results and performed tasks during the project Deep Boreholes for Ground-Source Heat Pumps, within the framework of the research program Effsys Expand.

A price model for the investment of GSHP system with deep Borehole Heat Exchangers (BHEs) is derived from a survey submitted to Swedish drillers. Notably, it is shown that the price increases with the borehole depth in a cubic fashion. Up to 300 m depth, the model shows a good match with a linear correlation having a slope of 275 SEK/m, a figure that is close to commonly used estimates for the total installation price of a single BHE. For larger depths, however, the installation price becomes non-linear and deviates from this linear tendency. Examples of total installation prices, including heat pumps and BHEs installation, are given.

Measurements performed in three different installations with deep boreholes are reported. The first tests are performed in a 800 m deep borehole equipped with acoaxial collector. Five Distributed Thermal Response Tests (DTRTs) are performed inthis BHE of which four were heat-extraction DTRTs. It is shown that heat flux inversion happens along the depth of the boreholes, that is heat is extracted at the bottom of the borehole but lost at the top. The flow rate is shown to have a significant effect on the thermal shunt effect and the coaxial BHE is shown to have significantly lower pressure drops that more traditional BHE (e.g. U-pipes). The pressure drop vs. flow rate relation is experimentally characterized through a hydraulic step test. An effective borehole resistance of 0.21 m∙K/W was found. This value is relatively high and is explained as a consequence of limited flow rate and the large depth. More investigations as regards the measurement technique (DTS with fiber optic cables) are needed before performing further in-depth analysis.

In another installation, four 510 m boreholes are measured to deviate about 30% from the vertical direction, highlighting the importance of drilling precision for deep boreholes, more particularly in urban environment. The GSHP system, using 50mmU-pipe BHEs is monitored over a year and it is found that pumping energy consumption in the boreholes could be as high as 22% of the total energy consumption of the system (compressors and circulation pumps). The relevance of pressure drops and control strategies for the circulation pumps in the borehole loop is emphasized. The temperature profile with depth confirms the existence of stored heat in the top part of the ground in urban environment.

The results of two DTRTs performed in the same borehole (335 m) are reported, thelatter being first water-filled before being grouted. The obtained thermal conductivities differ from one case to another, possibly highlighting the effect of the filling material on the results. Several other explanations are proposed although none can be fully verified.

The design and construction phases of a laboratory-scale borehole storage model are reported. The design phase mainly focused on deriving analytical scaling laws and finding a suitable size for such a model. Through the design analysis, an explanation to the discrepancy observed in the only previous attempt to validate long-term thermal behavior of boreholes is proposed.

Investigations as regards the KTH heat pump system, optimum flow rates in GSHPsystems with deep BHEs and quantification of thermal influence between neighboringboreholes are discussed although the work could not be fully completed within thetimeframe of the project.

The dissemination of knowledge through different activity is reported.