Estudo numérico da influência de condições de contorno na modelagem computacional de trocador de calor solo-ar

The earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) is a device used to improve the thermal condition of built environments, contributing to the reduction in electrical energy consumption of traditional air conditioning equipments. So the objectives of this study are to evaluate the influence of the thermal boundary condition of null flux prescribed in the thermal potential (TP) of the TCSA, which is imposed on the sides of the computational domain, and to study the effect of the type of thermal boundary condition imposed on the lower surface of the computational domain in the processing time of an EAHE numerical simulation. To do so, a validated and verified computational model, developed in FLUENT software, which is based on the Finite Volume Method (FVM), was employed. The results showed that the PT of the EAHE installations analyzed is affected for a horizontal spacing between the duct and the computational domain wall, less than 2.00 m. Furthermore, it was found that the use of the boundary condition of prescribed temperature imposed to the lower surface at the computational domain contributed to the reduction of the numerical simulation processing time in 18%, if compared with the use of the boundary condition of prescribed null thermal flux.