Computational fluid dynamics simulation of an earth-air heat exchanger for ventilation system

Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD Recast) obligates European Union members to improve energetic performance of the buildings. One of the crucial standards of energy-saving buildings are the passive houses, which are characterized by annual maximum space heating below 15 kWh/(m2·a) and the use of the specific primary energy for all domestic applications (also heating, hot water production and electricity) below 120 kWh/(m2·a). To achieve this standard there should be applied the solutions based on ground energy acquisition. One of them is the earth-air heat exchanger (EAHC) for ventilation systems. The article presents numerical simulations conducted by solving partial differential equations for three dimensional heat transfer. For the simulations it was applied Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. The efficiency of EAHC was considered under different values of external temperature during the winter period (from –24 to –8 °C). Obtained results prove linear correlation with calculations of EAHC according ...