Comprehensive study including testing, monitoring and thermo-hydro modelling for design and implementation of a geothermal system in Torino (Italy)

This paper describes a comprehensive study carried out in Torino (Italy) with reference to the 166 m high “Torre Intesa Sanpaolo-Intesa Sanpaolo Tower”, a “bioclimatic building”, naturally ventilated and cooled, where energy consumption is optimized with a geothermal system. In brief, water is pumped from the aquifer at 14 °C through a system of wells. After being used along the year for air conditioning of the building, the same water is returned back to the aquifer at 20–21 °C approximately. The study comprises: (a) large-scale water pumping tests; (b) large-scale water flow and heat transport tests with real-time monitoring of temperature and water level near a geothermal well; (c) thermo-hydraulic modelling of the above tests; (d) predictive modelling of the geothermal system behaviour versus time. The most attention is devoted to the monitoring data available through the tests and to the three-dimensional modelling of fluid flow and heat transport processes.