Modelling transient temperature distribution for injecting hot water through a well to an aquifer thermal energy storage system

Abstract

Heat storage systems are usually used to store waste heat and solar energy. In this study, a mathematical model is developed to predict both the steady-state and transient temperature distributions of an aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system after hot water is injected through a well into a confined aquifer. The ATES has a confined aquifer bounded by aquicludes with different thermomechanical properties and geothermal gradients along the depth. Consider that the heat is transferred by conduction and forced convection within the aquifer and by conduction within the aquicludes. The dimensionless semi-analytical solutions of temperature distributions of the ATES system are developed using Laplace and Fourier transforms and their corresponding time-domain results are evaluated numerically by the modified Crump method. The steady-state solution is obtained from the transient solution through the final-value theorem. The effect of the heat transfer coefficient on aquiclude temperature distribution is appreciable only near the outer boundaries of the aquicludes. The present solutions are useful for estimating the temperature distribution of heat injection and the aquifer thermal capacity of ATES systems. © 2010 The Authors Journal compilation © 2010 RAS.