Numerical sensitivity analysis of thermal response tests (TRT) in energy piles

In this article we use detailed numerical simulations to reproduce the results of thermal response tests for synthetic energy pile systems with different material properties, dimensions and pipe configurations. We used the standard line heat source model to evaluate the results of the numerical simulations and to highlight the magnitude of the errors this type of interpretation may produce. We demonstrate that even in the absence of groundwater flow and soil heterogeneity, TRT results obtained using the line heat source model can be misleading and must be treated with care.