To analyze the influence of various groundwater flow rates (specific discharge) on BHE system with balanced and unbalanced energy loads under assuming same initial temperature (15℃) of ground and groundwater, numerical modeling using FEFLOW was used for this study. When groundwater flow is increased from 1 × 10⁻⁷ to 4 × 10⁻⁷m/s under balanced energy load, the performance of BHE system is improved about 26.7% in summer and 22.7% at winter time in a single BHE case as well as about 12.0~18.6% in summer and 7.6~8.7% in winter time depending on the number of boreholes in the grid, their array type, and bore hole separation in multiple BHE system case. In other words, the performance of BHE system is improved due to lower avT in summer and higher avT in winter time when groundwater flow becomes larger. On the contrary it is decreased owing to higher avT in summer and lower avT in winter time when the numbers of BHEs in an array are increased, Geothermal plume created at down-gradient area by groundwater flow is relatively small in balanced load condition while quite large in unbalanced load condition. Groundwater flow enhances in general the thermal efficiency by transferring heat away from the BHEs. Therefore it is highly required to obtain and to use adequate informations on hydrogeologic characterristics (K, S, hydraulic gradient, seasonal variation of groundwater temperature and water level) along with integrating groundwater flow and also hydrogeothermal properties (thermal conductivity, seasonal variation of ground temperatures etc.) of the relevant area for achieving the optimal design of BHE system.

Keywords: BHE (borehole heat exchanger);Balanced energy load;Unbalanced energy load;avT (average geofluid or loop temperature);locT (local ground temperature);