Analysis of heat extraction performance and long-term sustainability for multiple deep borehole heat exchanger array: A project-based study

In the context of reducing carbon emission, Deep Borehole Heat Exchanger (DBHE) array has a large potential in extracting geothermal energy to provide building heating in densely populated urban areas. To investigate the thermal interaction among the DBHE, a comprehensive numerical model has been built with the OpenGeoSys software, and it is validated by monitoring data from a pilot project in Xi’an, China. The long-term simulations manifest that the outlet temperature of the DBHE array has a noticeable draw-down of 4.70 °C over 20 years in comparison to the single borehole setup. The maximum difference of outlet temperature among individual DBHE can reach up to 0.88 °C over 20 years, which will lead to a shifted thermal load of 23.35 kW (12.25 % of the designed average value). Based on the predicted subsurface temperature distribution, a non-linear correlation can be established between the drawdown in working fluid temperature and the accumulated amount of extracted heat. The finding of work implies that the thermal interaction among individual DBHE is of significance for the sustainability of the system, and comprehensive numerical modeling should be considered in the designing procedure.