A laboratory apparatus to study thermal response test in the presence of groundwater flow

The standard approach to Thermal Response Test, based on conduction heat transfer in the ground, turns out to be unsuccessful under significant groundwater flow. The applicability of the Moving Infinite Line Source model to interpret the TRT in this case still needs to be proved. In order to study the TRT in the presence of a groundwater flow, an original laboratory apparatus has been developed. The Sand Box design is based on a heat transfer similitude between the real scale TRT problem and the laboratory scale one. The Sand Box sizes (1,2 m x 0.6 m x 1.0 m) are then set in order to keep the boundaries unaffected by the heat source during the TRT. The U-pipe heat exchanger is reproduced through a two-cables electrical resistance 1 m long. A hydraulic loop with a peristaltic pump allows to obtain a Darcy velocity across the sandy soil up to 6,7510-5 m/s. The measurement system consists in several thermocouples in the porous medium and in a flow meter. The TRT results at null groundwater velocity allow to derive a reference thermal conductivity. The first tests with groundwater flow show the suitability of the apparatus and allow to derive some preliminary considerations.