LAUSR

Abstract The article concerns a theoretical investigation on the ground thermal energy storage (GTES) applied to a low-temperature district heating (LTDH) distribution network. A general formula describing the time-dependent GTES temperature variation was introduced. The highest values of the GTES operating parameters were obtained for the second model. The ground temperature of a varying liquid fraction content (0, 0.1, 0.2) reached a value of 33.42 °C, 33.29 °C and 33.07 °C, respectively. After the GTES was applied, the heat flux transferred to the end-users increased by 14.5 kW. Deactivation of the GTES caused that the heat flux transferred to the consumers had a constant value of 149.5 kW. The LTDH heat supplier was able to provide the heat flux which decreased in time by 8.26% when the GTES was activated. The impact of the GTES insulation on the ground temperature was studied. The results have shown that reducing the insulation by 1/3 results in the GTES temperature decrease by about 3%. It was also found out that inappropriate GTES operation mode may cause larger thermal depletion of the GTES.