Abstract
The transient temperature response is of great importance for evaluating the thermal capacity of ground heat exchangers (GHE). Based on the composition line source theory and superposition principle, we have developed a novel analytical model in Laplace space for calculating the temperature transient response. In comparison to the existing models, this proposed model can account for the fluid thermal storage effect and heat rate difference between the two legs of the single U-tube. With the aid of this proposed model, we conduct a thorough sensitivity analysis to investigate the effects of different influencing factors on the thermal transient response. The calculated results show that fluid thermal storage and the rate difference can significantly influence the thermal response during the early studied period. Therefore, the effect of fluid thermal storage should not be neglected when the early-time thermal response is investigated. The thermal interference between the two legs will reduce the heat capacity of GHEs. A large distance between these two legs can be favorable for practical use.