GHEtool is a Python package that contains all the functionalities + needed to deal with borefield design. It is developed for both + researchers and practitioners. The core of this package is the + automated sizing of borefield under different conditions. The sizing + of a borefield is typically slow due to the high complexity of the + mathematical background. Because this tool has a lot of precalculated + data, GHEtool can size a borefield in the order of tenths of + milliseconds. This sizing typically takes the order of minutes. + Therefore, this tool is suited for being implemented in typical + workflows where iterations are required.
+GHEtool also comes with a graphical user interface (GUI). This GUI
+ is prebuilt as an exe-file because this provides access to all the
+ functionalities without coding. A setup to install the GUI at the
+ user-defined place is also implemented and available at:
+
The building sector uses 36 % of global energy and is responsible
+ for 39 % of energy-related CO2 emissions when upstream
+ power generation is included, with more than half of this energy used
+ by space heating, space cooling and water heating
+ (
One of the main challenges in this domain is to size a borefield,
+ which is critical since borefields have a very high investment cost,
+ so we want them to be as small as possible to increase their
+ (economic) feasibility
+ (
GHEtool is a Python package with a graphical counterpart centred + around borefield sizing and the evaluation of temperature + evolution.
+The main advantage of GHEtool is that the ground response functions
+ (gfunctions
+ (
GHEtool aims to be used both by academic researchers in thermal + systems integration and as a tool for educational purposes. It offers + all the code and functions needed to size a borefield. Also, it + evaluates the mean fluid and borehole wall temperature evolution. + Therefore, GHEtool is beneficial for research activities relating to + fifth-generation district heating, seasonal thermal energy storage and + sensitivity analysis on borefield parameters.
+The tool comes with a GUI. This interface is particularly + beneficial for educational purposes, where students (and trained + engineers) can play around to see how specific decisions influence the + behaviour of the borefield. It is used at the University of Leuven + (Belgium) for all master thesis students that work in the geothermal + study domain and in the course B-KUL-H0H00A Thermal Systems.
+Furthermore, practitioners in the heating, ventilation and air + condition (HVAC) domain can use it to size their borefields correctly, + so they become more economically feasible and ready to play an + essential role in the energy transition of the built environment.
+Multiple tools are available for sizing borefields:
+-
+
EED and GLHEPRO are commercial, standalone tools for
+ borefields. They allow the user, a.o., to plot the mean fluid and
+ borehole wall temperature evolution
+ (
geoSIM is a free tool for simulating and sizing borefields but
+ only with one particular type of tubing (geoKOAX). It is also
+ standalone
+ (
Ground Loop Design software (GLDTM) “is the world’s leading
+ commercial GHX software design tool”
+ (
A commonly used package in the borefield domain is pygfunction.
+ Pygfunction is an open-source Python package to calculate the
+ thermal response factors of the ground. This function forms the
+ basis of many borefield simulation and sizing programs
+ (
From the mentioned tools, only EED, GLHEPRO, geoSIM and GLDTM can
+ size borefields, but none of them is open source nor easy to be
+ integrated into your workflow since they are standalone. From all the
+ borefield sizing tools listed above, only geoSIM is free, but it only
+ works with one specific type of borehole tubing
+ (
GHEtool offers functionalities of value to all different + disciplines working with borefields. The features are available both + in the code environment and in the GUI. These features are:
+-
+
Sizing the borefield (i.e., calculating the required depth) for + a given injection and extraction load for the borefield (two + sizing methods are available). The tool can work with monthly and + hourly load profiles
+Finding the optimal rectangular borefield configuration for a + given heating and cooling load
+Optimising the load profile for a given heating and cooling + load
+Using dynamically calculated borehole thermal resistance (using
+ directly the code from pygfunction
+ (
Calculating the temperature evolution of the ground for a given + building load and borefield configuration
+Importing heating and cooling loads from *.csv and *.xlsx + files
+Using your custom borefield configuration
+The first author would like to thank his supervisors Lieve Helsen + and Wim Boydens and his coaches Damien Picard and Iago Cupeiro + Figueroa for the guidance during his master thesis, which led to this + package development.
+The authors would like to thank Felix Arjuna and Iago Cupeiro + Figueroa for the translation of the GUI.
+