Modélisation des systèmes géothermiques à boucles horizontales pour chauffer les bâtiments et prévenir la fonte du pergélisol

In northern regions, due to climate change, the increase in the annual mean air temperature increases the depth at which the permanently frozen ground (permafrost) is located. This melting causes soil instability and therefore, the instability of the buildings and transport structures above it. These regions are highly dependent on fossil fuels as a large quantity is used to heat buildings and generate electricity. A solution to these problems is presented in this memoir. It involves using a heat exchanger coupled to a horizontal geothermal heat pump for both heating a building and maintaining the integrity of the permafrost beneath it. A new analytical model for horizontal ground heat exchanger based on the finite line source is presented. This model extends to the transient case in the soil and to any desired pipe layout the steady state results for parallel horizontal pipes of Claesson et Dunand (1983). The heat transfer ratio can change along the pipe. The analytical model can not account for the groundwater phase change given the complexity of the phenomenon. When there is no phase change the analytical model is validated by a 3D finite element numerical model. When the phase change is accounted for in the numerical model, for weather data from northern regions, the analytical model still provides good approximations to the ground temperature during the intensive heating season, hence allowing to compute the heat extracted by the ground heat exchanger (GHE). However, summer ground temperature and thaw depth are overestimated by the analytical model, so that the analytical model gives conservative results.