Master's lecture in Civil Engineering - Xuyang Jin
The lecture will be streamed live: https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/66742667110?pwd=eWp4TElPdDk5dFhGaWx5ZkJBYzh5dz09
Master's student: Xuyang Jin
Title: Heat storage in rock and soil in permafrost conditions
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Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Bjarni Bessason, Professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Other members of the masters committee: Arne Aalberg, Professor at the University Centre in Svalbard and Aleksey Shestov, Associate Professor at the University Centre in Svalbard
Examiner: Halldór Pálsson, Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract
The Svalbard Community is searching for a clean energy solution to lower its cost for heating. As one of the most promising technologies for long-term thermal energy storage from both technical and economical points of view, BTES (borehole thermal energy storage) fits this purpose well. BTES generally consists of an energy center and three subsystems. The subsystems are the heat inputting loop, the Borehole Thermal Energy Storage loop, and the heat outputting loop. The energy center regulates the heat exchanges among the three subsystems.
The authorities have decided to build a small testing site near the Svalbard Airport to find out the thermal behavior of a BTES in permafrost environment, upon the data of which a reliable model can be created for the full-sized BTES project. In this thesis, model simulations of the testing site were done based on assumptions and historical data. The simulated temperature changes around the BTES with time were mapped out. Although some of the input data were mere assumptions, the model may still serve as a valid tool for further simulations when the more practical data obtained from the testing site are available. In the future, the demand for low temperature BTES will increase while and high temperature BTES may be utilized as an outlet for biogas. Artificial Intelligence will further raise the overall energy efficiency of BTES system.