Abstract
Energy piles are foundation elements used to provide structural support and thermal comfort to different types of constructions. In countries with predominant tropical weather, heat exchanger piles dissipate heat from the internal environments of the building to the foundation soil. This paper discusses preliminary studies regarding the planning, designing, and building of geothermal piles that will be implemented in the CICS Living Lab, the Polytechnic School of USP’s building-laboratory, located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The focus of the approached topics will be the green housing construction and the efficient use of ground source energy. In order to better understand aspects of thermal exchange efficiency, a numerical model was elaborated using the ANSYS CFX software. The main scenarios simulated the behaviour of energy piles in sands. The numerical model was calibrated with the results of Thermal Response Tests performed in saturated sands of São Paulo. The obtained results will be used to predict the amount of renewable energy that the geothermal system will be able to provide. Comparisons will be made to usual systems in order to show that energy pile solutions are a feasible investment that pay their costs back many times during the lifetime of the building. Another important addressed approach is the verification of the idea that energy piles are cost effective, durable, and reduce the overall effects on the human health and in the environment, decreasing the consequences of the ecological footprints of traditional cooling and heating systems.
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