Data for "Estimation and prediction of shallow ground source heat resources subjected to complex soil and atmospheric boundary conditions"

In this paper, an advanced modelling tool, based on a coupled Thermal-Hydraulic (TH) modelling framework, is presented to calculate and predict the temperature and soil-moisture behaviour of shallow ground under complex atmospheric, temperature and hydraulic boundary conditions. Atmospheric data e.g., solar radiation, rainfall, humidity, air temperature, and wind velocity is considered together with subsurface soil data to investigate thermal and hydraulic responses of the ground, and its individual soil layers. The storage and flux terms of the TH model have been provided. Furthermore, a transient method for estimating shallow ground source heat (SGSH) resources is proposed based on the simulated temperature and saturation distributions of the ground. The model is applied to predict the long-term ground temperature and saturation level of a test site located in Warwickshire County, UK. The soil profile from the ground surface is categorized into three layers, that is, Layer 1: 0-0.3 m sandy clay loam, Layer 2: 0.3-2.4 m silty clay, and Layer 3: > 2.4 m mudstone. A Base case was established based on borehole logs and material parameters of the site. Four more cases are designed to study the influences of the soil types and hydraulic drainage conditions on the ground temperature and saturation, and then the heat content of the ground. Different soil profiles were employed in Case 1 and Case 2 compared to the Base case. Layers 1 and 2 in Case 1 are silty clay, whereas Layers 1 and 2 in Case 2 are sandy clay loam. In contrast with the Base case, the saturated hydraulic conductivities of Layer 2 in Case 3 and Layer 1 in Case 4 were increased by 1000 times. Data of the neat heat content per unit area in Year 3 of the Base case, Case 1, Case 2, Case 3, and Case 4 are listed.

Research results based upon these data are published at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2022.07.148