Reduced the Cooling Load and Improved Insulation Effect on Iraqi Buildings Using the Geothermal Energy Storage Phenomenon

Abstract

A numerical study has been done on Iraqi buildings (Baghdad) on 21stJuly to reduce the cooling load using a new system of geothermal energy. Forthis purpose, a flat vertical plate with high thermal conductivity extended intoground in 3 m deep used with eastern and southern walls construction.The study shows that when using a plate only (without insulation) thecooling load is reduced by (13.2 %) and (12.7 %) for eastern and southernwalls respectively. In addition, it shows that when using insulation at differentarrangements the plate at the southern wall succeeds reduce in the coolingload by (8 %, 14.5% and 40 %) and (8 %, 15.8% and 41.3 %) at the easternwall.The study shows also that at some arrangements using flat plate withinsulation, one can reach a very smooth cooling load distribution for southernand eastern walls, which gives a good and easy controlling of air temperatureof the space. Also it can be seen from this study that the plate reduces thetemperature of the walls outside surface especially when using insulation atthe outside surface which means that the plate reduces the temperature anddissipats the thermal stresses which cause the cracks in the walls outsidesurface. The temperature reduction occurs in both walls at peak load, whichmeans that the heat is dissipated to the ground.As the inside, temperature of the wall surface has a great effect on thethermal comfort of occupants in the conditioned space and on the naturalconvection inside the space, when there is a good coincidence between thesouthern and eastern walls there will be a better thermal comfort. The platealso succeeded in making the inside surface temperature of the southern andeastern walls very close. The available experimental data from the literaturefor solar radiation, outdoor temperature and under-ground soil temperaturegave a good agreement when compared with the theoretical results obtainedfrom the used equations and programs in this research.