Comparing vertical ground heat exchanger models

The main objective of this article is to establish a set of test cases for analytical verification and inter-model comparison of vertical ground heat exchanger (GHX) models used in building simulation programs. Several test cases are suggested. They range from steady-state heat rejection in a single borehole to varying hourly loads with relatively large yearly thermal imbalance in multiple borehole configurations. The usefulness of the proposed test cases is illustrated with different GHX models. This comparison exercise has shown that analytical one-dimensional (1D) models compare favourably well with three-dimensional (3D) models for relatively short-simulation periods, where axial effects are not significant. Cyclic heat rejection/collection tests proved to be useful to characterize the accuracy and the computational performance of different load aggregation algorithms. Finally, different spatial superposition methods have been compared for various bore field sizes and configurations and various loads.