Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Cooling of office buildings in cold climates using direct ground-

coupled active chilled beams
Taha Arghand *, Saqib Javed , Anders Trüschel , Jan-Olof Dalenba
€ck
Division of Building Services Engineering, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Gothenburg,
Sweden

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study investigates the use of a direct ground cooling system (DGCS) using active chilled beams for
Received 16 January 2020 the cooling of office buildings in Sweden. The methodology of the study entails laboratory experiments
Received in revised form to develop and validate a simulation model of the cooling system. The sensitivity of the input parameters,
1 September 2020
such as borehole heat exchanger (BHE) length, internal heat gains and room temperature set point, are
Accepted 14 September 2020
Available online 17 September 2020
studied with respect to BHE outlet fluid temperature and room thermal comfort. The results provide a
practical insight into designing DGCSs with regard to borehole outlet fluid temperatures. The results also
show that the thermal comfort criteria in the room are met by applying the DGCS even under the most
Keywords:
Direct ground cooling system
critical design conditions of undisturbed ground temperature and internal heat gains. The sensitivity
High-temperature cooling study quantifies the influence of the room temperature setpoint and internal heat gain intensity on the
Borehole heat exchanger BHE length. The BHE outlet temperature level is more sensitive in shorter BHEs than in the longer ones,
Active chilled beam and BHE length and room temperature levels are highly correlated. Thus, the sizing of DGCS can benefit
Design optimisation from a control system to allow the room temperature to float within a certain range.
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction power, is between 2 and 4 [7].

In certain cases, it is also possible to use direct ground cooling
Systems utilising ground as a heat source or heat sink are among systems (DGCS) to provide cooling to buildings. These systems do
the most viable solutions for the provision of energy-efficient space not use compressors and use natural ground temperatures to
heating and cooling. For cooling purposes, ground-coupled systems provide cooling [8]. DGCSs work by circulating the warm fluid from
benefit from exchanging heat with the ground, which has a lower a building’s terminal units down into a group of pipes inserted in
temperature than the ambient air in summer. The gound temper- vertical boreholes near the site [9]. The building’s pipework can be
ature below a depth of seasonal temperature fluctuations either directly connected to the borehole or separated by means of
(10e15 m) remains fairly constant throughout the year and only a heat exchanger. The DGCSs use far less electricity, needed only to
increases slowly with depth due to the geothermal gradient [1,2]. In operate the circulation pumps. Therefore, the cooling performance
Sweden, the underground temperature at 100-m depth varies from ratio of the systems is as high as 13e25 [8,10].
3
C in the north to 10
C in the south [3]. DGCSs are often coupled with high-temperature cooling ter-
The reversible ground-source heat pump system is a well- minal units. These terminal units utilise high-temperature chilled
known ground-coupled cooling technology. The heat pump uses water, usually ranging from 16
C to just below room temperature
the ground as a heat sink in summer to cool the refrigerant in the [11], to provide space cooling. Studies on ground-coupled high-
condenser. Although ground-source heat pumps yield better en- temperature cooling terminal units have evaluated the energy use
ergy performance than air-cooled chillers do [4e6], this technology of DGCSs and investigated the indoor thermal environment
also demands significant amounts of electricity for the refrigeration established by various systems, including pipe-embedded wall
cycle. The typical cooling performance of such systems, defined as systems, studied by Romani et al. [12,13] and Li et al. [14]; radiant
the ratio of the delivered thermal cooling power to the electrical floor heating and cooling systems, by Javed et al. [15]; thermally
activated building systems (TABS), by Pahud et al. [16], Eicker and
Vorschulze [8] and Liu et al. [17]; ceiling cooling panels, by Arghand
* Corresponding author. et al. [18]; and fan-coil units, by Li et al. [19]. In practice, the
E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Arghand).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.09.066
0960-1481/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Ymp€ €talo office building (6791 m2) in Helsinki, Finland [20],

aristo
and the Entre Lindhagen office building (58,000 m2) in Stockholm,
Sweden [21], are examples of buildings applying ground-coupled
ACB systems for cooling.
The existing literature on DGCSs has mainly focused on evalu-
ating the cooling performance of the system. For example, Javed
et al. [15] investigated the optimal design of the borehole in relation
to uncertainties in the ground design parameters. Pahud et al. [16]
studied the balance ratio between the heat extracted from and
supplied to the ground as an influential parameter affecting ground
cooling power over the long run. Eicker and Vorschulze [8] carried
out sensitivity studies on the cooling power of the ground in rela-
tion to several design parameters of the borehole and the ambient
temperature.
Fig. 1. Typical temperature levels in a direct ground-coupled cooling system in cold
The existing literature does not provide much information on climates.
the sizing and dimensioning of DGCS. Owing to the large time
constant of the ground, short-term and rapid increase in the
building cooling load affects the borehole outlet fluid temperature, temperatures are used to design and size the building terminal
which in turn, affects the heat extraction from the building. In fact, units, which usually operate within a range of 16
C to just below
the main difficulty is the optimal sizing of the system considering room temperature [23]. However, the outlet fluid temperatures
the variations of the borehole outlet fluid temperature in relation to undergo short-term and long-term drifts. While the short-term
building cooling loads. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to temperature drifts are mainly related to the building’s cooling
consider and quantify the temperature ranges of the borehole load rates, the borehole design and the ground’s thermal proper-
outlet fluid and investigate its influence on the thermal perfor- ties, the long-term variations are associated with annual building
mance of the building cooling system. cooling energy and the ground heat storage characteristics.
The main objective of this article is to investigate the potential of Kottek et al. [24] classified the world climate based on the
using a ground-coupled active chilled beam (ACB) system in cold monthly mean temperature of the warmest and the coldest months
climates, e.g. Swedish climate, for cooling of office buildings. This is as well as the lowest and the highest precipitation during the
achieved by analysing the BHE outlet temperatures with respect to winter and summer periods. According to this classification,
the different design conditions of BHE length, room temperature countries with cold climate have a long and cold winter and a cool
setpoints and internal heat gains for a direct-ground coupled ACB or a warm summer. Fig. 1 shows the likely temperature levels in a
cooling system. In addition, room thermal comfort is investigated DGCS for cold climates. The maximum theoretical achievable
with regard to the borehole system’s cooling capacity with different cooling power from the ground is characterised by the room tem-
lengths and undisturbed ground temperatures. perature at one end and the ground temperature at the other end.
The range of room temperatures recommended for office premises
2. Design parameters of a DGCS is 22
Ce27
C [25,26], which is associated with the occupants’
thermal comfort. However, the ground temperature changes based
The primary concept in DGCS is to utilise the ground thermal on the heat flow rate between the building and the ground. The
mass potential to cool the heat transfer medium circulating be- drifts in the ground temperature influence the design and the size
tween the boreholes and the building terminal units. Given the fact of the room terminal units. Therefore, the proper system design is
that the ground temperature changes under imbalanced annual achieved by considering the variations in the fluid temperature
heat rejection conditions, it is desirable to have a thermally levels so that the maximum room temperature stays within the
balanced ground-coupled system. In such a system, the annual comfort limits. In other words, overlooking the borehole outlet
ground temperature remains approximately unchanged over the temperature variations in a DGCS may have the consequence of
years of operation. This can be ensured by injecting and extracting hours of overheating in the building.
heat to and from the ground during the summer and winter pe- In light of the above considerations, the sensitivity studies car-
riods, respectively. The DGCS considered in this article is a ther- ried out in this article include investigating the influence of the
mally balanced ground-coupled system where the ground parameters affecting the heat exchange rate between the building
temperature increase over the years is insignificant. and the borehole system, such as the building temperature set
The design of a DGCS requires consideration of different pa- point and internal heat gain intensity. Furthermore, BHE outlet
rameters regarding the heat transfer rates between the ground and fluid temperature and room thermal comfort are investigated in
building. Thus, sizing and design optimisation of the system is relation to the BHE length.
performed while taking into account the local geological properties
of the ground as well as the thermal requirements of the building. 3. Overall research methodology
The common way for designers to size a borehole system is to
specify the local ground thermal properties, the peak hourly and The main design objective for sizing the ground-coupled cooling
monthly building cooling loads and the heat loads on the BHEs for systems is to obtain the prescribed BHE outlet temperature under
determining the appropriate arrangement of the BHEs based on design conditions. This represents the ground loads or cooling ca-
these characteristics [22]. The design should guarantee the opera- pacity of the borehole system and is also used to size the building
tion of the system during the entire cooling period, including the terminal units. In this work, the outlet temperature level is assessed
peak cooling period. Thus, both the short-term (daily and seasonal) in relation to BHE length, internal heat gains in the building and
and long-term (yearly) thermal behaviour of the ground are room temperature set point. Furthermore, since the ultimate goal
considered in the system design. of using a cooling and heating system is to establish a thermally
Designing the ground-coupled terminal units is mainly based on comfortable environment for the occupants, the thermal comfort
the outlet fluid temperatures from the borehole system. The outlet levels in the room are examined in relation to the BHE length.
123
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

This study started by conducting laboratory experiments on a heat gains consisted of a thermal dummy of 75 W (6 W/m2) and
mock-up of an office room to investigate the borehole outlet fluid lighting of 110 W (8.7 W/m2). The electrical foils on the wall and
temperature ranges for a ground-coupled ACB cooling system. floor simulated the external heat gains from solar radiation. The
Although the experiments were to be conducted in a single office heat gains intensity of the foils was either 0 or 500 W (0 or 40 W/
room, the results were still useful for analysing the typical thermal m2), depending on the experimental conditions.
zone of a building consisting of several offices with similar cooling The cooling load in the test room was handled by an ACB, an
loads. Therefore, the simulation model, which was first developed integrated water-based terminal unit. In a typical ACB application,
based on the experimental results from the laboratory room, was the cooling load in the room is mainly handled by the cooling coil
extended to simulate a thermal zone in an office building with and to some extent by the cold supply air. In this study, the water to
realistic cooling loads. the cooling coil was supplied by the borehole system described in
It should be reemphasised that this study was designed for a section 4.2. The supply air to the ACB was provided through recir-
thermally balanced DGCS operating under cold climate conditions culation of the room air. Therefore, the supply air temperature was
using design inputs from Sweden. The yearly average temperature approximately equal to room temperature and thus in this study air
of the ground with thermally balanced DGCSs remains approxi- cooling did not contribute to the thermal conditioning of the room.
mately constant if the heat rejection to and extraction from the The supply air was provided at a constant rate of 25 l/s.
ground are equal over the year, as explained in section 2. As a result, The room air temperature, the supply and return water tem-
the BHE fluid temperatures simulated for the first year are expected peratures of the ACB, and the inlet and outlet temperatures of the
to be similar for other cooling periods in other years. BHE were measured using calibrated temperature sensors. The
The range of values for the parameters investigated in this study, fluid temperatures were measured using screw-in type PT-100
including the room temperature setpoint, internal gains and oc- sensors. For the ACB, the fluid temperature sensors were located
cupants’ comfort levels, has been chosen based on the prescribed on the supply and return pipes at the closest proximity to the ter-
values in the national or international standards and handbooks minal unit. The room air temperature sensor was a probe-type PT-
[26e28]. 100. The sensor was located 1.10 m above the floor at the mea-
surement point shown in Fig. 2. The accuracy (bias) of all PT-100
4. Experimental system thermometers was (0.1 þ 0.0017  measured value)
C. The water
flow was measured with vortex-type flow meters installed in the
This section describes the experimental set-up and methods ground and the building loop. The flow meter sensor had an ac-
used to perform the measurements in the test room. The results curacy of ±1.5% of the full scale (20 l/min) and a resolution of about
from the experimental tests are used in section 5 to develop a 0.2 l/min. The sensors were calibrated before the measurements.
model of the DGCS. The cooling capacity of the ACB was controlled using the on/off
flow control method. The control system for the ACB comprised of
the room air temperature sensor, a control box, a two-way control
4.1. System description
valve and a circulation pump (see Fig. 3).

The DGCS test facility is located on the campus of the Chalmers

University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The main parts of 4.2. Ground and borehole description
the DGCS include a test room with a terminal unit, a borehole, the
pipework and the control components for operating the system. Fig. 3 shows the main parts of the borehole system, including
The test room was a mock-up of a single-plan office. The room the borehole section and the corresponding pipework. The bore-
had 12.6 m2 of floor space (4.2 m  3.0 m) and a ceiling 2.70 m high, hole comprised of a single U-tube borehole with an active depth of
reduced by 0.30 m by a drop ceiling. The drop ceiling consisted of approximately 80 m. The U-tube in the upper clay section was
compressed fibreglass panels. The walls had a finish of 0.012 m of enclosed in a steel pipe and the remaining part of the U-tube was
gypsum board attached to 0.1 m polystyrene panel walls. The test enclosed in the bedrock to the bottom. The space between the U-
room was in a large lab hall and was therefore protected against tube and the borehole boundary was naturally filled by ground-
direct sunlight and ambient temperature fluctuations. water, which is a common practice in Sweden [29]. Fig. 3 details the
The test room was equipped with various heat sources to ground and borehole specifications. The data summarised in
simulate actual heat gains in real offices (see Fig. 2). The internal Table 1 was obtained based on the on-site thermal response test

Fig. 2. A) Test-room facilities, and B) test-room layout.

124
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Fig. 3. A) Pipework and control components in the ground and room loops, and B) borehole cross-section.

Table 1 5. Simulation model development and validation

Ground and borehole system specifications [30].

Parameter (unit) Specification This section describes the development and validation of a
Borehole
model simulating the DGCS explained in section 4. The model
Active depth (m) 80 contained the test room and the borehole system. The model was
Diameter (mm) 110 validated against the experimental results under the experimental
Filling material Groundwater conditions described in section 4.3.
Thermal resistance (m.K/W) 0.059
Undisturbed ground temperature (
C) 8.3
Soil thermal conductivity (W/m.K) 2.88
5.1. Simulation model
U-tube
Pipe type () Polypropylene, PN8 DN40
Inner diameter (mm) 35.4 IDA ICE 4.8 simulation software was chosen to develop the
Outer diameter (mm) 40.0 model of the test room and the borehole described in section 4.2.
Thermal conductivity (W/m.K) 0.42 The software is validated against measurements under the frame-
Circulating fluid
work of various standards such as CIBSE TM33 [34], ANSI/ASHRAE
Type Ethanol (29.5%)
Thermal conductivity (W/m.K) 0.401 140 [35] and EN 13791 [36]. Besides, the model was validated with
Specific heat capacity (J/kg.K) 4180 the data obtained from the experiments.
The borehole model in IDA ICE is based on the finite-difference
approach and uses the superposition principle of heat transfer from
(TRT) carried out by Javed [30]. The values for the thermal prop- a cylindrical 2D field around a borehole [37]. The model solves
erties of the ground are typical for Sweden [3]. The borehole field transient energy balance in the fluid, the filling material, and the
has been extensively tested and reported in the literature [31,32]. surrounding ground using (1) one-dimensional heat transport
The ground loop was equipped with a circulation pump and a equation in U-pipe liquid downward and upward with heat transfer
control valve (see Fig. 3). However, the circulation rate of the heat to grout and ground, (2) one-dimensional heat equation in grout
fluid carrier in the ground loop was kept constant in this study at with heat transfer to liquid and ground and (3) two-dimensional
0.33 ± 0.07 kg/s. The ground loop and the building loop were heat equation in cylindrical coordinates around borehole with
connected through the heat exchanger 1 (see Fig. 3). heat transfer to grout and liquid. It also considers the geometrical
and physical properties of the ground and the surface layer, as well
as the physical and thermal properties of the borehole. The model is
4.3. Experimental conditions decribed in detail in Ref. [38]. The simulated borehole had similar
features as those shown in Table 1. However, the software considers
The thermal performance of the DGCS was examined under the following assumptions in heat transfer modelling of boreholes:
periodic heat gain conditions in the test room. The periodic heat
gains consisted of 2 h of low heat gains (16 W/m2) and 2 h of high  The ground is a uniform geological structure.
heat gains (55 W/m2). The heat gain intensity was regulated by  The thermal resistance of the borehole is considered constant
turning the electrical foils on and off. The heat gains from the lights for turbulent flow.
and the thermal dummy were always constant. The duration of  Vertical and horizontal seepages of groundwater are not
each heat gain period was designed based on the time constant of considered.
the room, as previously studied by Arghand et al. [33].  Vertical temperature variation in the underground is neglected.
The experiments were performed at a room temperature set-
point of 23
C. The control method for the ACB was on/off with no The simulated room was modelled based on the experimental
dead band. The water was circulated at a constant rate of 4.2 l/min data from the test room, as described in section 4.1. The exterior
through the terminal unit if the room air temperature was above side of the internal walls was exposed to the spaces with an air
the set point. When the room air temperature fell below the set temperature of 20.5
C, equal to the exterior air temperature of the
point, the control valve was shut until the room temperature rose test room in the experimental set-up. A drop ceiling at 2.40 m
above the set point. A comparison between the actual room tem- divided the room into two spaces: the main space and the drop-
perature and the setpoint temperature was performed by an on/off ceiling space. The main space represented the area where all the
controller located in the control box. internal heat sources and measurement equipment were located.
125
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Table 2
Simulation input data for validating the DGCS for the test-room model.
Heat gain intensity Exp- room temp
Sim- room temp
Parameter (unit)

Room air temperature (°C)

24 120

Heat gain intensity (W/m2

Wall
Thickness (m) 0.11
U-value (W/m2.K) 0.33
Active chilled beam
23 80
Design cooling capacity (W) 810
Primary airflow rate (l/s) 25
Primary air temperature (
C) 22.1 ± 0.3 (Troom ¼ 22.0) 22 40
24.0 ± 0.1 (Troom ¼ 24.0)
25.9 ± 0.2 (Troom ¼ 26.0)
Supply water flow rate (l/min) 4.2 21 0
Supply water temperature (
C) Variable between 15.7 and 16.5 0 60 120 180 240
Cooling capacity control method On/off water flow rate
Time (min)
Fig. 4. Measurement data (Exp) and simulation results (Sim) on the room air tem-
The ACB was placed on the drop ceiling. Thus, only the main space perature (temp).
was thermally conditioned by the ACB. The specifications of the
simulated room are listed in Table 2.
The ACB model included an idealised supply air diffuser for the well as the test room. However, due to the inherent limitations of
airside and a water heat exchanger to simulate the heat transfer the experimental set-up, such as the dimension of the test room,
between the air and the liquid. The supply airflow rate of the ACB heat gain intensity and duration and BHE length, an extended
was always constant at 25 l/s, with a similar temperature as the model representing a more realistic office building was needed to
room air temperature. The supply water flow rate was constant at test the operational performance of the cooling system. This section
4.2 l/min. The supply water temperature was variable, depending describes the extended model of the test room, which was later
on the liquid temperature in the BHE loop and the operating period used for the sensitivity studies.
of the system. The input parameters of the ACB model are also The extended model was developed based on the laboratory
summarised in Table 2. test-room model but on a larger scale (see Fig. 6). In addition, in
order to simulate the external heat gain from solar radiation, the
southern wall in the extended model was of the external type with
5.2. Validation of the test-room model
a 57% window-to-wall ratio and no exterior/interior shading. The
other walls were simulated as internal walls, exchanging heat with
Fig. 4 shows a comparison of the simulated and measured room
internal spaces with a constant temperature of 20.5
C, equal to the
air temperatures under periodic internal heat gains. The simulated
test-room model. In this way, the simulated office was approxi-
results and measured data match closely, showing a small
mated as a single-perimeter zone in a larger office. Internal heat
discrepancy of only ±0.2 K. The simulated room temperature fea-
gains included gains from occupants (6 W/m2), lighting (8.7 W/m2)
tures more fluctuations. In practice, the thermal mass of the room
and equipment (0 or 7.9 or 16.5 W/m2). The specifications of the
components, such as the walls, floor and ceiling, as well as the
model envelope are listed in Table 3. The simulated office was
cooling water in the coil, reduced the room temperature fluctua-
located in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the simulation period was
tions to some extent. However, the model did not consider the
from May 14, 2018, to September 21, 2018.
thermal mass of the cooling water in the ACB and overlooked, to a
With regard to the terminal units, the extended model included
lesser extent, the thermal mass of the furniture.
7 ACBs for space cooling. The ACBs had a similar cooling capacity,
BHE outlet temperature and supply water temperature to the
control method and operational characteristics as those of the test-
ACB are two important design parameters defining the ground load
room model (see Table 3).
ranges and the cooling capacity of the terminal unit, respectively.
The undisturbed ground temperatures used in this study were
The results in Fig. 5 show a good agreement between the simulated
3
C and 11
C, based on the ground temperature limits at a depth of
and measured BHE water temperatures. The experimental outlet
100 m in Sweden, as provided by Rosen et al. [3]. The other pa-
temperature seems quite stable, suggesting that the variations in
rameters regarding the local geological properties of the ground
the inlet temperature did not affect the outlet temperature.
and the borehole thermal specifications were the same as in the
The experimental ACB supply water temperature shown in Fig. 5
test-room model (see Table 3).
has peaks and troughs because of the on/off control of the flow rate.
When the control valve was shut, the standstill water in the ACB
absorbed heat from the room. The water was later replaced with
cold water when the control valve opened. This effect cannot be 6. Sensitivity analysis results and discussion
seen in the simulation because the software did not consider heat
transfer between the standstill water and the surrounding. How- This section contains the sensitivity studies of the extended
ever, this issue would not make any significant difference to the model described in section 5.3. As previously mentioned in section
energy calculation since the simulated water temperature 2, appropriate design of a DGCS requires consideration of the
approximately follows the average water temperature of the sensitivity of the temperature levels of the cooling medium in the
experiments. BHE and the building cooling system. Choosing too tight a tem-
perature range may hinder the operating of the system or result in
5.3. Extended simulation model many hours of overheating in the room. Too large a temperature
range, on the other hand, would incur unnecessary expenses. The
The model described thus far only simulated the DGCS in the following are the results from the sensitivity study of the BHE outlet
laboratory. Developing such a model was necessary to simulate the temperature and room thermal environment regarding the varia-
transient performance of the ground-coupled cooling system, as tions in BHE length, internal gains and room temperature setpoints.
126
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Heat gain intensity Exp- ACB supply

Sim- ACB supply Exp- BH outlet
Sim- BH outlet

Heat gain intensity (W/m2

18 120
Temperature (°C) 16
80
14
40
12
10 0
0 60 120 180 240
Time (min)
Fig. 5. Measurement data (Exp) and simulation results (Sim) for the borehole (BH) outlet and ACB supply temperatures.

Fig. 6. Plan view of the extended test-room model representing a single-perimeter zone of an office building.

Table 3
Description of the input parameters to the extended simulation model.

Parameter (unit)

External wall
Dimensions (m) 21.1  2.4 (W  H)
U-value (W/m2.K) 0.33
Thickness (m) 0.27
Internal wall
Dimensions (m) 21.1  2.4, 4.2  2.4 (W  H)
U-value (W/m2.K) 0.54
Thickness (m) 0.11
Window
Number of windows 7
Dimensions (m) 1.2  2.2 (H  W)
U-value (W/m2.K) 1.19
G-value (%) 43
Floor area (m2) 88.7
Borehole
Length (m) 60 - 200 (Variable based on the case study)
Undisturbed ground temperature (
C) 3 or 11 (Variable based on the case study)
BHE fluid mass flow rate (kg/s) 0.8
Other specifications See Table 1
Active chilled beam
Number of the ACB 7
Supply water temperature (
C) 15 - 22 (Variable based on the case study)
Other specifications See Table 2

6.1. Influence of BHE length on borehole outlet temperature more practical, especially for DGCSs, to associate the thermal
environment in the room with BHE size.
The common approach to sizing BHEs is to adjust the borehole However, the aim of this section is not to evaluate the sizing
field size iteratively to meet the user-prescribed limits for the BHE methods for the BHEs, but rather to investigate the correlation
outlet temperature. The BHE outlet temperature is usually defined between BHE size, the borehole outlet fluid temperature and the
to meet the peak building cooling/heating loads. Thus, BHE size is ground loads. This is done by investigating the BHE outlet tem-
usually described in relation to the building peak loads. However, perature and ground loads, as well as the operative temperature
the primary aim of having any heating and cooling systems in a range in the room in relation to various combinations of BHE length
building is to satisfy the occupants’ thermal comfort. Thus, it is and climate (undisturbed ground temperature). The simulations

127
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

were performed during a cooling period from mid-May until 70

September 20, 2018. The maximum internal heat gains were 2.8 kW q min- 3°C
(31.2 W/m2). The room temperature setpoint was 24
C and the 60 q max- 3°C
fluid flow rate in the BHE was constant at 0.8 kg/s and similar for all
50 q min- 11°C

Ground loads (W/m)

cases.
The box plots in Fig. 7 show the BHE outlet temperature spread
40 q max- 11°C
during the cooling period for the BHE lengths. The minimum
temperatures, shown by the lower whisker, are obtained at the 30
system start-up after the weekends. The maximum values, denoted
by the upper whisker, are associated with the warm days during 20
which the peak cooling load appears. The line in the box area shows
the median value of the temperature range.
10
Comparing the outlet temperature level, between the upper and 0
the lower whiskers, for each BHE length, indicates that the outlet
50 100 150 200 250
temperature level is more sensitive for the shorter BHE than for the
BHE length (m)
longer ones. For instance, the outlet temperature spread for a 60 m
long BHE with an undisturbed ground temperature of 3.0
C falls Fig. 8. Minimum (q min) and maximum (q max) ground load ranges in relation to BHE
between 5.0
C and 13.9
C, while this range is 4.0
Ce9.2
C for a length and undisturbed ground temperatures. The room set point was 24
C and the
BHE of 120 m length (see Fig. 7A). This significant variation in the internal gains were set at 31.2 W/m2.
outlet temperature is especially important for sizing the terminal
units as well as calculating the available cooling coil power. The
length and the ground load ranges required for the building. It is
temperature levels for the warmer ground temperature of 11.0
C in
worth noting that the minimum ground load ranges with two
Fig. 7B are smaller because of the higher undisturbed ground
undisturbed ground temperatures are similar and thus they are
temperature.
shown with one line in Fig. 8.
As can be seen in the figure, the outlet temperatures are
inversely proportional to the BHE length because of the increase in
the heat exchange area between the fluid in the U-tube and the 6.2. Influence of room temperature set points on borehole outlet
ground. The trend appears to be non-linear. This is partly because temperature
the difference between the mean fluid temperature and the ground
temperature decreases with the BHE length, which in turn, affects In general, the room temperature setpoint greatly affects the
the heat transfer between the fluid and the ground. Besides, heat design of the borehole system by defining the amount of heat
short-circuiting between the U-tube’s legs increases with BHE transferred to the ground. In fact, the setpoint influences the in-
length, which causes an increase in the outlet temperature. tensity of the peak building cooling load, which, in turn, influences
While Fig. 7 shows the temperature levels in the BHE, it is the ground temperature variations in the short and long terms. This
practical from the design point of view to know the achievable section investigates the short-term effect of the room temperature
ground load ranges for the borehole system. Fig. 8 shows the set points on the BHE outlet temperature level. The BHE outlet
minimum and maximum ground loads per unit length for the temperature is chosen as the output parameter because it reflects
considered cooling demand for the simulated office. The ground the changes in the ground loads and because it is the main
loads are calculated based on the difference between the inlet and parameter for sizing building terminal units.
outlet fluid temperatures of the BHE. The maximum values are Fig. 9 shows the box plots of the BHE outlet temperatures cor-
attributed to the peak cooling load period, while the minimum responding to the room temperature set points of 22
C, 24
C and
values are obtained during the start-up of the system. 26
C. The simulations were carried out for the entire cooling
The results show that the ground loads per BHE unit length are period and the internal gain was 31.2 W/m2 for all cases. The results
inversely proportional to BHE length. The non-linear trend is partly in Fig. 9 can be interpreted in two ways. The influence of the room
associated with the non-linear heat exchange rate in the BHE and is setpoint can be seen not only in changing the BHE maximum
partly related to the thermal short-circuiting between the U-tube’s temperature, shown by the upper whisker but also in changing the
legs. Generally, a longer BHE provides greater ground loads. How- median and lowest temperatures. While changes in the maximum
ever, Fig. 8 suggests considering the trade-off between the BHE BHE temperature are proportionally related to the size of the ter-
minal units, changes in the whole temperature range influence the

Fig. 7. BHE outlet temperatures for different lengths at undisturbed ground temperatures of A) 3
C and B) 11
C. The room set point was 24
C and the internal gain was set at
31.2 W/m2.

128
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Fig. 9. BHE outlet temperature levels as a function of room temperature set point. The simulations were performed for the whole cooling period for the undisturbed ground
temperature of A) 3
C and B) 11
C. The internal gain was 31.2 W/m2 for all cases.

system operates from 6:00 to 18:00, and it is off during the

weekends. This intermittent operation allows the ground to recover
its temperature, to some extent, during the off period, as noted
elsewhere [39,40]. The influence of the operation of the system can
be justified by investigating the minimum BHE outlet tempera-
tures. The minimum outlet temperatures in Fig. 10 remained
approximately unchanged when changing the internal gains. When
the set points were changed, however, a considerable change could
be seen in the minimum outlet temperatures (see Fig. 9). Further
simulations reveal that the continuous operation of the system
caused the minimum BHE outlet temperature to increase within
the range of 1.5 Ke4.4 K for the BHE lengths investigated in this
study.

Fig. 10. BHE outlet temperature variations with internal gains simulated for BHEs of 6.4. Influence of BHE length on the indoor thermal environment
60 m, 120 m, and 180 m. The undisturbed ground temperature was 3
C and the room
temperature setpoint was 24
C.
The results presented so far are helpful in sizing the BHEs but it
would be better still to be able to determine the room comfort
water flow rate and the pump energy use in the building cooling criteria for different borehole design conditions. For this reason, the
system. This is because when the overall temperature levels of the room’s operative temperature (Top) was used to evaluate the room’s
cooling fluid medium increase, a higher flow rate is required to thermal environment, as suggested in other studies [25,26]. Sim-
remove a given cooling load from the building. A change in the ulations in this section were performed for the whole summer
overall outlet temperature level with room temperature seems to period. The room temperature setpoint was 24
C. The simulated
be stronger for lower undisturbed ground temperatures, due to the internal loads ranged from 14.7 W/m2, for an office with no office
larger difference between the fluid and the ground temperatures. electrical equipment, to 31.2 W/m2, for an office equipped with a
workstation connected to three screens for each person and one
printer for eight people [28].
6.3. Influence of internal heat gain intensity on borehole outlet Fig. 11 presents the distribution of Top during the working hours,
temperature from 6:00 to 18:00, in the cooling period. Each boxplot shows the
maximum and minimum Top in the room by the upper and the
The box plots in Fig. 10 show the BHE outlet temperature levels, lower whiskers, respectively. The quartile range, that is, the area
including the maximum, minimum and median temperatures for shown by the box, presents the lower quartile, median and upper
common internal gains in office buildings based on ASHRAE Fun- quartile values. The median illustrates the middle value of all room
damentals 2017 Chapter 18 [28]. The simulated internal loads range temperatures during the simulation period. The points above the
from 14.7 W/m2, for an office with no office electrical equipment, to upper whisker, if any, are outliers. Temperatures lower than 24
C
31.2 W/m2, for an office equipped with a workstation connected to are temperature undershoots caused by the time lag of the system.
three screens for each person and one printer for eight people. As Fig. 11 has three major features of interest: the Top spread during
expected, increasing the internal gain intensity causes the the cooling period, the peak temperatures and the room thermal
maximum outlet temperature to increase. It seems that the outlet comfort categories. A comparison of the temperature spread
temperature in the shorter BHE is more sensitive to changes in heat enclosed between the upper and the lower whiskers show that
gains than that in the longer one. This deals with the higher increasing the BHE length causes a reduction in the Top range. The
available cooling capacity in the longer BHEs. reduction is relatively small, especially for the undisturbed ground
A comparison of Figs. 9 and 10 reveals that the magnitude of the temperature of 3
C. This is because the temperature spread shown
changes made by changing the room set points is considerably by each boxplot is mostly formed and influenced by the tempera-
greater than that achieved by varying the heat gains. One likely tures occurring during the part-load periods. Since the ground
reason is that amount of the heat load changed by varying the loads with a 60 m BHE is most likely enough to cool the room
setpoint is higher than that of the amount of heat load changed by during the majority of the part-load periods, increasing the length
altering the heat gains. Another explanation is the intermittent does not lower the Top range to any great extent.
operation of the cooling system. On weekdays, the building cooling However, increasing the BHE length is more pronounced in
129
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Fig. 11. Room operative temperature (Top) levels simulated under different internal gains for BHE lengths of 60 m and 120 m at an undisturbed ground temperature of A) 3
C and B)
11
C. The blue lines represent the maximum allowed Top in the room. The maximum Top for categories A, B and C are 25.5
C, 26
C and 27
C, respectively, based on ISO 7730 [26].
The room temperature set point is 24
C. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

reducing the maximum Top. Maximum temperatures occurred 6.5. General discussion and practical implications
during the peak hour loads and are shown by the upper whisker
and the outliers. As can be seen in Fig. 11 the maximum tempera- BHEs are usually sized to reach the user-defined BHE outlet fluid
tures were reduced by increasing the length, since the longer BHE temperature. This temperature is defined based on the cooling
provides a higher cooling capacity. In fact, the influence of changing demand of the building under peak cooling conditions. Sizing the
the length can best be observed in the number of overheating hours BHEs in DGCSs based on the peak loads guarantees that the bore-
in the room. The optimum size for the BHE can be calculated by hole system provides the necessary cooling power for the peak
compromising between the number and/or duration of the over- conditions. A detailed description of these methods can be found in
heating hours and the length of the ground heat exchanger. other studies [41,42]. This article does not deal with sizing the BHEs
Fig. 11 also shows the correlation between BHE length and the but the results in section 6 can be useful for optimising their size.
room thermal comfort categories. The blue lines in Fig. 11 define the The results suggest designing the building temperature control
maximum allowed Top in the room according to the indoor thermal system so that the room temperature increases to a certain extent
environment categories suggested in ISO 7730 [26]. As can be seen during the peak period in order to reduce the peak cooling load.
in the figure, categories B and C can be met with 120 m BHEs for the This peak shaving method certainly reduces the BHE length
entire range of undisturbed ground temperatures between 3
C and without violating the thermal comfort limits of the occupants. One
11
C. With the 60 m BHE, fulfilling category B and C is feasible with example of such a design is the application of a supply temperature
BHEs at a 3
C undisturbed temperature. This result points to the control method, also known as a self-regulating control method, for
idea that a ground-coupled ACB can provide a comfortable envi- high-temperature cooling terminal units. In this method, the water
ronment for the occupants even in those spaces with high cooling to the terminal units is supplied at a constant flow rate and tem-
demand. perature. The room temperature varies within a certain range
Although Fig. 11 shows the distribution of Top during the cooling corresponding to the changes in the internal room gains. Other
season, details regarding the number of overheating hours for works have described the application of this method for ACB
different design configurations are not provided. Overheating [43,44] and ceiling cooling panels [18]. Future work should
hours occur during the peaks and their duration is proportional to concentrate on the challenges of sizing BHEs for different cooling
the maximum cooling capacity provided by the borehole. capacity control methods for building terminal units.
Table 4 summarises the number of overheating hours of Top for The development of ground-coupled ACBs is attracting more
each thermal environment category according to ISO 7730 [26]. For attention in Scandinavian countries because ACBs are the most
95 working days during the simulated period, there were 1140 common high-temperature terminal units. A high cooling capacity,
cooling hours. As can be seen in the table, both the internal gains easy cooling capacity control and fast response for stabilising the
and the BHE length affect the number of overheating hours. These room temperature are some of the advantages of ACBs. The
factors appear to be more significant in the shorter BHE. In the Ympa €risto
€ talo office building in Helsinki, Finland [20], and the
longer BHE, concerns about overheating are alleviated. In general, Entre Lindhagen office building in Stockholm, Sweden [21] are
Table 4 shows that achieving category C with the ground-coupled examples of buildings applying ground-coupled ACB system for
ACB system is viable even with short BHEs and high internal cooling. More studies on the long-term cooling performance of this
gains up to 31.2 W/m2. system and how to implement it not only for cooling but also for
As can be seen from Table 4 and Fig. 11, sizing the BHE to meet heating purposes, especially from the ground thermal storage
the cooling peaks may result in a large BHE system. Therefore, perspective, will encourage the widespread use of this system.
considering some overheating hours in the design significantly
contributes to reducing the cooling demand and lowering the BHE
6.6. Limitations
size. The extent to which the impact of overheating hours needs to
be considered depends on the designed comfort levels in the room.
As mentioned in section 5.1, the heat transfer modelling of
For instance, the Swiss technical standard SIA Norm 382/1 allows a
boreholes in IDA ICE has certain limitations. However, these limi-
maximum room temperature of 26.5
C for no longer than 100 h
tations can be addressed by using in-situ measured values of
[16].
ground thermal properties as done in this study. The in-situ
130
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

Table 4
Number of overheating hours based on the thermal environment categories in ISO 7730 [26] for BHEs of 60 m and 120 m and various internal gains. The simulations were
performed for 1140 working hours during the cooling period. The room temperature setpoint was 24
C and the internal gains were 31.2 W/m2 for all conditions. The maximum
Top for categories A, B and C were 25.5
C, 26
C and 27
C, respectively.

Undisturbed ground temperature (
C) Internal heat gains (W/m2) Thermal comfort Thermal comfort Thermal comfort
category A category B category C

60 m 120 m 60 m 120 m 60 m 120 m

3 14.7 1 0 0 0 0 0
22.6 18 0 2 0 0 0
31.2 72 10 28 0 0 0
11 14.7 62 22 25 3 0 0
22.6 196 70 88 27 8 0
31.2 400 209 262 93 46 7

measured undisturbed ground temperature accounts for the tem- screens and one printer for eight office workers) had a modest
perature gradient in the ground. Moreover, using average ground effect on reducing the maximum BHE temperature by 2.5 K and
temperature instead of actual ground temperature with geothermal 2.0 K for 60 m and 120 m BHEs, respectively.
gradient gives trivial errors in the heat extraction performance of  Given the results from the parametric study, we suggest
BHEs [45]. Similarly, the in-situ measured values of ground thermal designing the control system to allow the room temperature to
conductivity and borehole thermal resistance account both for the float within a certain range. Increasing the room temperature
non-uniform geological structure of the underground and the during the peak cooling period reduces the peak intensity and
groundwater movement. The authors, however, recommend taking requires shorter BHEs.
geothermal gradient and groundwater movement into account for
systems with a high geothermal gradient or a significant ground- A likely future study will investigate the sizing of BHEs with
water movement and/or a small temperature difference between regard to different methods for controlling the cooling capacity of
the undisturbed ground and the room indoor temperature. Under direct ground-coupled ACB systems.
these circumstances, the calculated borehole outlet temperatures
may deviate from the actual values. CRediT authorship contribution statement

Taha Arghand: Methodology, Validation, Writing - original

7. Conclusions draft, Investigation. Saqib Javed: Supervision, Writing - review &
editing. Anders Trüschel: Supervision, Writing - review & editing.
The application of the ground-coupled ACB system for comfort Jan-Olof Dalenba €ck: Project administration, Supervision, Writing -
cooling in an office building has been presented using experimental review & editing.
results at the laboratory scale and simulation results for a single-
perimeter zone in a large office. Besides, sensitivity studies were
Declaration of competing interest
performed on the parameters having an influential role in the heat
exchange rate between the borehole and building, such as BHE
The authors declare that they have no known competing
length, room temperature setpoint and internal heat gain intensity.
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
The sensitivity study aimed to investigate the variations of the BHE
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
outlet fluid temperature in relation to the parameters studied.
Given the experimental set-up and the simulation assumptions, the
Acknowledgements
concluding remarks of this study are summarised below:
This work was financially supported by the Swedish Energy
 Ground-coupled ACBs offer a viable alternative for cooling office
Agency (Energimyndigheten) through its E2B2 national research
premises in cold climates such as Sweden’s. The results from the
programme. The in-kind contribution of laboratory facilities by
simulation models show that meeting the thermal comfort
Swegon and Lindab is gratefully appreciated. We are particularly
criteria recommended in ISO 7730 [26] is possible, even for the
grateful to Håkan Larsson for his lab assistance. Valuable discus-
most critical design conditions, namely, an undisturbed ground
sions with Carl-Ola Danielsson (Swegon) and Go €ran Hultmark
temperature of 11
C and internal gains as high as 31 W/m2.
(Lindab) are also acknowledged.
 BHE outlet temperature level is more sensitive in shorter BHEs
than in longer ones. The influence of BHE length is greater on
References
maximum BHE temperature than on median temperature. As a
result, the room temperatures during the peak cooling condi- [1] G. Florides, S. Kalogirou, Ground heat exchangersda review of systems,
tions, i.e. the maximum room temperature, experience a larger models and applications, Renew. Energy 32 (2007) 2461e2478, https://
change than the room temperatures during the part-load con- doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2006.12.014.
[2] A. Vieira, M. Alberdi-Pagola, P. Christodoulides, S. Javed, F. Loveridge,
ditions through a change in the BHE length. F. Nguyen, F. Cecinato, J. Maranha, G. Florides, I. Prodan, G. Van Lysebetten,
 The room temperature setpoint plays an important role in E. Ramalho, D. Salciarini, A. Georgiev, S. Rosin-Paumier, R. Popov, S. Lenart,
establishing the BHE outlet fluid temperatures because it de- S.E. Poulsen, G. Radioti, Characterisation of ground thermal and thermo-
mechanical behaviour for shallow geothermal energy applications, Energies
fines the heat transfer rate to the ground. For BHEs of 60 m and
10 (2017), https://doi.org/10.3390/en10122044.
120 m, changing the room temperature setpoint from 24
C to [3] B. Rosen, A. Gabrielsson, J. Fallsvik, G. Hellstro
€m, G. Nilsson, System fo
€ r va
€rme
26
C caused 5.0 K and 2.7 K reduction in the maximum BHE och kyla ur mark: en nul€ agesbeskrivning, Swedish Geothecnical Institute
(SGI), Linko€ping, Sweden, 2001.
outlet temperature, respectively. Within the same context,
[4] H. Yang, P. Cui, Z. Fang, Vertical-borehole ground-coupled heat pumps: a re-
changing the internal gains from 14.7 W/m2 (no electrical office view of models and systems, Appl. Energy 87 (2010) 16e27, https://doi.org/
equipment included) to 31.2 W/m2 (a desktop with three 10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.04.038.

131
T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel et al. Renewable Energy 164 (2021) 122e132

[5] Z. Zhou, Z. Zhang, G. Chen, J. Zuo, P. Xu, C. Meng, Z. Yu, Feasibility of ground Organization for Standardization, Brussels, Belgium, 2014.
coupled heat pumps in office buildings: a China study, Appl. Energy 162 [27] Swedish Work Environment Authority, Workplace design- Provisions of the
(2016) 266e277, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.055. Swedish Work Environment Authority on workplace design (AFS 2009:2),
[6] K.J. Chua, S.K. Chou, W.M. Yang, Advances in heat pump systems: a review, Arbetsmiljo € verket, Stockholm, Sweden, 2009. https://www.av.se/globalassets/
Appl. Energy 87 (2010) 3611e3624, https://doi.org/10.1016/ filer/publikationer/foreskrifter/engelska/workplace-design-provisions-
j.apenergy.2010.06.014. afs2009-2.pdf.
[7] A. Chiasson, J.D. Spitler, Modeling approach to design of a ground-source heat [28] ASHRAE, ASHRAE Handbook - HVAC Fundamentals, Am. Soc. Heating, Refrig.
pump bridge deck heating system, Transport. Res. Rec. 1741 (2001) 207e215. Air Cond. Eng. Atlanta, 2017.
[8] U. Eicker, C. Vorschulze, Potential of geothermal heat exchangers for office [29] K.P. Tsagarakis, L. Efthymiou, A. Michopoulos, A. Mavragani, A.S. AnCelkovi c,
building climatisation, Renew. Energy 34 (2009) 1126e1133, https://doi.org/ F. Antolini, M. Bacic, D. Bajare, M. Baralis, W. Bogusz, S. Burlon, J. Figueira,
10.1016/j.renene.2008.06.019. M.S. Genç, S. Javed, A. Jurelionis, K. Koca, G. Ryzy _ n
 ski, J.F. Urchueguia,
[9] D. Banks, An Introduction to Thermogeology: Ground Source Heating and 
B. Zlender, A review of the legal framework in shallow geothermal energy in
Cooling, John Wiley & Sons, 2012. selected European countries: need for guidelines, Renew. Energy 147 (s)
[10] Y. Man, H. Yang, Y. Qu, Z. Fang, Feasibility investigation of the low energy (2020) 2556e2571, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RENENE.2018.10.007.
consumption cooling mode with ground heat exchanger and terminal radi- [30] S. Javed, Design of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems: Thermal Modelling
ator, Procedia Eng 121 (2015) 423e429, https://doi.org/10.1016/ and Evaluation of Boreholes, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg,
j.proeng.2015.08.1088. Sweden, 2010.
[11] T. Arghand, Direct-Ground Cooling Systems for Office Buildings: Design and [31] J.D. Spitler, S. Javed, R.K. Ramstad, Natural convection in groundwater-filled
Control Considerations, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, boreholes used as ground heat exchangers, Appl. Energy 164 (2016)
Sweden, 2019. https://research.chalmers.se/publication/510102/file/510102_ 352e365, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.11.041.
Fulltext.pdf. n, An experimental investigation of the accuracy
[32] S. Javed, J.D. Spitler, P. Fahle
[12] J. Romaní, G. Pe rez, A. de Gracia, Experimental evaluation of a cooling radiant of thermal response tests used to measure ground thermal properties, ASH-
wall coupled to a ground heat exchanger, Energy Build. 129 (2016) 484e490, RAE Trans. 117 (2011) 13e22.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.08.028. [33] T. Arghand, A. Trüschel, J.-O. Dalenba €ck, S. Javed, Dynamic thermal perfor-
[13] J. Romaní, L.F. Cabeza, P. Gabriel, A. Laura, A. De Gracia, Experimental testing mance and controllability of dry fan-coil unit, in: Cold Clim. HVAC Conf.,
of cooling internal loads with a radiant wall, Renew. Energy 116 (2018) 1e8, Springer, 2018, pp. 351e361, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00662-4.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.09.051. [34] S. Moosberger, Report: IDA ICE CIBSE-Validation: test of IDA Indoor Climate
[14] A. Li, X. Xu, Y. Sun, A study on pipe-embedded wall integrated with ground and Energy version 4.0 according to CIBSE TM33, issue 3, Lucerne University
source-coupled heat exchanger for enhanced building energy efficiency in of Applied Sciences and Arts, Luzern, Switzerland, 2007. http://www.
diverse climate regions, Energy Build. 121 (2016) 139e151, https://doi.org/ equaonline.com/iceuser/validation/ICE-Validation-CIBSE_TM33.pdf.
10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.04.005. [35] EQUA Simulation Technology Group, Technical report: Validation of IDA In-
[15] S. Javed, I.R. Ørnes, M. Myrup, T.H. Dokka, Design optimization of the borehole door Climate and Energy 4.0 build 4 with respect to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard
system for a plus-Energy kindergarten in Oslo, Norway, Architect. Eng. Des. 140-2004, EQUA Simulation Technology Group, Stockholm, Sweden, 2010.
Manag. (2018) 1e15, https://doi.org/10.1080/17452007.2018.1555088, 0. [36] S. Kropf, G. Zweifel, Validation of the building simulation program IDA-ICE
[16] D. Pahud, M. Belliardi, P. Caputo, Geocooling potential of borehole heat ex- according to CEN 13791 “thermal performance of buildings - calculation of
changers’ systems applied to low energy office buildings, Renew. Energy 45 internal temperatures of a room in summer without mechanical cooling -
(2012) 197e204, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.03.008. general criteria and validation procedures ”, Lucerne University of Applied
[17] J. Liu, X. Xie, F. Qin, S. Song, D. Lv, A case study of ground source direct cooling Sciences and Arts, Luzern, Switzerland, 2001.
system integrated with water storage tank system, Build. Simul. 9 (2016) [37] A.B. Equa Simulation, User guide: borehole 1.0. http://www.equaonline.com/
659e668, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-016-0297-0. iceuser/pdf/UserGuideBoreholes.pdf, 2014.
[18] T. Arghand, S. Javed, A. Trüschel, J. Dalenba €ck, Control methods for a direct- [38] L. Eriksson, P. Skogqvist, Description of the IDA ICE borehole model, Internal
ground cooling system : an experimental study on office cooling with Report, EQUA Simulation Technology Group, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017.
ground-coupled ceiling cooling panels, Energy Build. 197 (2019) 47e56, [39] L. Liu, Z. Yu, H. Zhang, H. Yang, Performance improvements of a ground sink
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.05.049. direct cooling system under intermittent operations, Energy Build. 116 (2016)
[19] Z. Li, W. Zhu, T. Bai, M. Zheng, Experimental study of a ground sink direct 403e410, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.01.032.
cooling system in cold areas, Energy Build. 41 (2009) 1233e1237. [40] X. Cao, Y. Yuan, L. Sun, B. Lei, N. Yu, X. Yang, Restoration performance of
[20] J. Kurnitski, nZEB office building Ympa €risto
€talo in Helsinki, Finland, REHVA vertical ground heat exchanger with various intermittent ratios, Geothermics
Eur. HVAC J. 44e49 (2012). https://www.rehva.eu/rehva-journal/chapter/ 54 (2015) 115e121, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2014.12.005.
nzeb-office-building-ympaeristoetalo-in-helsinki-finland. [41] J.R. Cullin, J.D. Spitler, C. Montagud, F. Ruiz-Calvo, S.J. Rees, S.S. Naicker,
[21] J. Graslund, nZEB headquarters of Skanska, REHVA Eur. HVAC J. 44e47 (2014). P. Kone cný, L.E. Southard, Validation of vertical ground heat exchanger design
https://www.rehva.eu/rehva-journal/chapter/nzeb-headquarters-of-skanska. methodologies, Sci. Technol. Built Environ. 21 (2015) 137e149, https://
[22] S.J. Rees, Advances in Ground-Source Heat Pump Systems, 2016. doi.org/10.1080/10789669.2014.974478.
[23] M. Virta, D. Butler, J. Graslund, J. Hogeling, E.L. Kristiansen, Chilled Beam [42] J.R. Cullin, J.D. Spitler, A computationally efficient hybrid time step method-
Application Guidebook, Rehva Guidebook No 5, 2005. ISBN 2-9600468-3-8. ology for simulation of ground heat exchangers, Geothermics 40 (2011)
[24] M. Kottek, J. Grieser, C. Beck, B. Rudolf, F. Rubel, World map of the Ko €ppen- 144e156, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2011.01.001.
Geiger climate classification updated, Meteorol. Z. 15 (2006) 259e263, [43] R. Kosonen, J. Penttinen, The effect of free cooling and demand-based venti-
https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130. lation on energy consumption of self-regulating and traditional chilled beam
[25] E.N. CEN, 15251- Indoor Environmental Input Parameters for Design and systems in cold climate, Indoor Built Environ. 26 (2017) 256e271, https://
Assessment of Energy Performance of Buildings Addressing Indoor Air Quality, doi.org/10.1177/1420326X16683236.
Thermal Environment, Lighting and Acoustics, European Committee for [44] P. Filipsson, A. Trüschel, J. Gra€slund, J. Dalenba€ck, Performance evaluation of a
Standardization, Brussels, Belgium, 2007. direct ground-coupled self-regulating active chilled beam system, Energy
[26] ISO, ISO 7730- Ergonomics of the Thermal Environment e Analytical Deter- Build. 209 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109691.
mination and Interpretation of Thermal Comfort Using Calculation of the PMV [45] P. Eskilson, Thermal Analysis of Heat Extraction Boreholes, Department of
and PPD Indices and Local Thermal Comfort Criteria, International Mathematical Physics, University of Lund, Sweden, 1987.

132