A NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF GROUNDWATER FLOW ON HEAT LOSS FROM RESIDENTIAL FOUNDATIONS

Dominique Beaulieu, Jean Côté

In the proceedings of: GeoQuébec 2015: 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference & 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

Session: Groundwater / Eaux souterraines

ABSTRACT: This paper aims at determining the relative effects of groundwater flow (heat convection) on the total heat loss towards surrounding soils using a finite elements method to solve coupled heat and mass transfer in porous media. Three different soils were studied: clay, silt and sand. The results show that the flow of groundwater under the foundation has a significant influence on the total foundation heat loss if the surrounding soil is made of coarse grained soil such as pervious sands. As expected, the high water conductivity of sand has a strong influence on total heat loss due to varying pore-water velocities (hydraulic gradient). However, in low permeability soils such as silts and clays, groundwater flow has negligible influence on the total heat loss. Very low pore-water velocity does not allow for noticeable heat extraction under any water table or hydraulic gradients conditions.

RÉSUMÉ: résidentielle sur le total des pertes de chaleurs par cette fondation en utilisant un modèle par éléments fini pour résoudre le transfert couplé de chaleur et de masse dans un milieu poreux. Trois différents types sols ont été utilisés : le sable, le a cette fondation est construite sur un sol pulvérulent dont la conductivité hydraulique est élevée. Dans le cas des sols à totale par la fondation. la hauteur de la nappe ou le gradient hydraulique.

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