Heat transfer process in a thermo-active diaphragm wall from monitoring data and numerical modelling

The thermo-active diaphragm walls represent a solution that permits the exploitation of near-surface geo-thermal energy for the thermal conditioning of buildings and infrastructures. Preliminary studies showed that some time-dependent thermal conditions, such as the thermal input at the inlet of the heat exchanger pipes and the temperature at the excavation side, play a crucial role in the overall energy performance. An on-site monitoring programme allowed to enhance the understanding of the heat transfer process occurring in the re-al scale structure in the different heating/cooling operating modes. The research was then focused on the nu-merical model calibration based on the monitoring data. The results proved the effectiveness of the numerical model in predicting the heat transfer process and the energy performance, but also the high sensitivity of the analysis with respect to parameters of uncertain definition.