Estimation of thermal properties of the ground and backfilling materials from thermal response tests (TRTs) using ground heat exchangers

Abstract This paper reports on a algorithm for simultaneously estimating thermal conductivities and diffusivities of soils and backfilling materials. The algorithm uses a 2D composite-medium line source solution for borehole ground heat exchangers (GHEs), enabling early-time ( ± 60%); (3) ±10% uncertainties in borehole radius, heating rate, and half-spacing of U-tube legs lead to the total deviations from the original estimates of k s , a s , k b , or a b equal to 8.4%, 87.5%, 12.8%, and 15.5%, respectively.