Learning Forum

[vsjay3]

Hi Everyone,

As part of my research I'm using Ansys Fluent to model :

1) Heat flow through compacted soil (clay) with an embedded ground heat exchanger

2) Heat flow through compacted soil (clay) without an embedded ground heat exchanger

For both above cases I simply need to obtain the resulting temperature contours. I would only be modelling heat flow through the soil medium and not water flow.  Water flow will only occur inside the ground heat exchange pipe.

I am new to Ansys Fluent and apologize if this is a very basic question:

Now, I have the required properties of the compacted soil (Density, thermal conductivity etc.) but I'm not sure if to model the compacted soil medium in Fluent as a "Porous" medium or simply a "Solid" medium.

I've read some papers on similar modelling approaches but I could not find a clear answer to this.

Hence, any advice on the above matter would be much appreciated.Thank you!

[Amir]

Hello vsjay3,

I am also trying to model the soil and a heat exchanger buried under neath the soil. defining the soil as solid did not give me sensible results and I am trying to model it as a "porous" media.

I was wondering have you figured out how to do it in ansys fluent?

I have read quite a bit of material but did not find answer to my question.

your comments would be appreciated.

[Rob]

If there is flow in the soil then it's a porous media. If nothing much is moving use a solid zone. Note, if you then want to use the solar calculator rather than a set heat flux (external wall settings) you may need to model some of the air space above ground.

[Amir]

Hello,

I was wondering were you able to model soil as porous zone?