An Evaluation of the Mathematical Models of Energy Piles

Abstract

A current trend is to reduce the energy performance of buildings by using alternative sources for heating and cooling. One of the most promising, and so far unprecedented sources of heating and cooling, is the use of energy from the earth using the thermally-activated foundation piles of a building, the so-called energy piles. The paper deals with an overview and comparison of computer-aided analytical models of energy piles. The individual analytical models are compared (categorized) from the point of view of their physical complexity, computational costs, and thus their usability for the purpose of optimizing energy-pile equipment or assessing the long-term energy efficiency of an energy pile field. Selected mathematical models were algorithmized, and the results obtained were compared with a more robust numerical solution performed using CalA 4 software.

Keywords

• energypile
• analytical models
• g-function
• infinite line source model
• cylindrical source model
• finite line source model