# Introduction he ground has been utilized since the forties of the last century as an energy source, an energy sink, or for energy storage. This was done in a parallel effort of developing efficient heat pumps to raise this heat source to a higher level of temperatures for heating purposes or heat rejection for cooling purposes. Augmentation of efficiency led to tremendous research to improve the performance of the ground part of the heat pump system. Hence qualitative and quantitative work was focused on the thermal design of the ground heat exchanger, vertical and horizontal orientations. Naili et al. [1] studied experimentally a horizontal ground source heat pump system in the cooling mode. The heat pump COP and the system COP were found to be (4. 25) and (2.88), respectively. Bakirci [2] evaluated the performance of a groundsource heat pump system in a cold climate region. The experimental results indicated that the average heatpump COP values are approximately (3) and (2.6) in the coldest months of a heating season. Fan et al. [3] conducted a theoretical study on the performance of an integrated ground-source heat pump system. The results refer to various factors affecting the performance of the vertical heat exchangers and hence the performance of the heat pumps system. Esen et al. [4] studied experimentally the transient temperature distribution inside a borehole for a vertical U-tube heat exchanger at (30, 60, and 90) m depth and (150) mm borehole diameter. A two-dimensional finite element model was built, and ANSYS code was implemented for the numerical analysis to predict the temperature distribution. They concluded that the numerical analysis appears to be most promising for predicting the response of GHEs to thermal loading. Wood et al. [5] studied the heat pump performance and ground temperature of a ground heat exchanger system for a residential building. The seasonal coefficient of performance of the heat pump was found to be (3.62), and the temperature at (5) m was undisturbed. Florides et al. [6] investigated the thermal performance of a double U-tube GHE and the assessment of its efficiency with regard to its building cost. A numerical model was also developed for energy flows and temperature changes in and around a borehole. It was validated upon comparing its results with established experimental results for a single GHE. Liao et al. [7] studied numerically the effective borehole thermal resistance of a vertical, single U-tube ground heat exchanger for a range of shank spacing. They claimed that their study produced a correlation that showed better accuracy than available correlations. Sharqawy et al. [8] postulated a 2-dimensional numerical model for the steady-state heat conduction within the borehole. He developed a correlation for the effective borehole thermal resistance and was also concluded that his correlation predicted the thermal resistance better than other available formulas. The T Fluid Exit Fluid Inlet # S p # Grout Borehole Wall d o analytical models for (GHE) utilize mainly a line heat source [9,10] and cylinder heat source theory [11,12] to predict the heat transfer rate between the ground and the heat carrier fluid flowing in the (GHE). The equivalent diameter of U-tube can be presented in the form of: ( Where (??) is an equivalency coefficient greater than (1.0). Claesson and Dunand [13] postulated the value of (??) for two buried horizontal pipes to be (?2). Shonder and Beck [14] implemented a onedimensional heat transfer model for the U-tube and arrived at the same value as that of Claesson and Dunand [13] for a single vertical U-tube heat exchanger in the form: (2.a) In which the equivalent diameter corresponds to: (2.b) Where (n) is equal to (2) for a single U-tube system and is corresponding to (2 do) for double U-tube ground heat exchanger. Gu and O'Neal [15] utilized a steady-state heat transfer simulation based on the cylindrical source model to produce a correlation for the grout resistance for a vertical U-tube ground heat exchanger in the form: (3.a) This form of equation reveals that the equivalent diameter was expressed as: (3.b) Koenig [16] has analyzed the heat transfer problem in a borehole with single and multi-vertical Utube loops. He has arrived at an analytical solution to the borehole thermal resistance for different U-tube geometry configuration and presented a validation for the model with acceptable accuracy limits. Tarrad [17] reported a simple correlation for the prediction of a borehole thermal resistance in a vertical single U-tube ground heat exchanger incorporates the following expression of the equivalent diameter: The correlation showed an acceptable agreement with previously available ones in the open literature. More recently, Tarrad [18] developed a correlation to predict the borehole thermal resistance in which the equivalent tube was derived as: (5) The correlation showed excellent agreement with previously published expressions in the open literature. In this study, the thermal resistance of the grout was coupled with the tube resistance to accomplish a model for the assessment of effective borehole resistance. The obstruction to heat conduction inside the borehole due to the presence of the second tube leg was also studied, and a correlation was addressed for this purpose. The shank spacing was ranged between (2) and (4) times the U-tube outside diameter producing a geometry factor (??) defined as the ratio of tube spacing to borehole diameter occupies the range of (0.29-0.59). # II. # Present Model # Model Derivitive The model suggests that there is a single Utube installed in the borehole to compose a ground heat exchanger for heating or cooling heat pump system, Figure 1. ? ? = ?? ? ? ð??"= ??? ? ? ?? ? ? ? 2 ? ? ð??" ? ? = ?? ? ? ? ð??"= ??? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2 ? ? ð??" ? ? = ?? ? ? ? ? ? = ? ? ??+?? 2 ?1? ? = ? ? 2 + ? ? 2 ?? ? 2 2 ? ? ? ? ? ? = ?2 ? ? +2 ? ? 2 q 3 q 1 R b,B R a,B R f R f q 2 The presentation of the thermal resistance circuit may be illustrated for the U-tube geometry, as depicted in Figure 2. A similar thermal resistance circuit was also postulated by Koenig [16] for a single U-tube ground heat exchanger. The U-tube geometry in the borehole is usually chosen to be identical, and parallel loop circuits are utilized. Hence the same fluid flows in both U-tube legs. This leads to equal tube thermal resistances on the fluid side and conduction through the tube wall for both tubes. Further for identical tube geometries, the grout thermal resistance is the same between the tube wall and the grout boundary, as illustrated on the right side of Figure 2. Therefore the following conditions hold for the present work: Equations (9)(10)(11) were solved simultaneously to yield the following relations for each of heat transfer rate inside the borehole and its mutual exchange with ground and tubing systems: Equations (13)(14)(15) reveal that the individual values of the heat transfer rate have complex relation criteria with the parameters related to the thermal resistance of different parts of the system. Hence it is usually treated as a semi-analytical problem or a complete analytical solution with several assumptions to simplify the problems having a margin of error in their applications. The total heat transfer rate between the two legs of the U-tubing walls and borehole boundary is (17) Shunt Thermal Resistance modeled as an isothermal pipe to pipe conduction shape factor per unit length in an infinite medium per unit length Holman [19]. The following mathematical expressions are to be solved simultaneously for (q 1 , q 2 , and q 3 ). represented by the algebraic summation of (q 1 and q 2 ) as: In these expressions Î?"T b , B , Î?"T a , B , and Î?"T b , a represents a temperature difference as follows: The thermal shunt resistance (R s ) can be # Grout Thermal Resistance The thermal resistance of an offset tube inside a cylindrical geometry with a length to be much bigger than the radius of the tube can be deduced from the shape factor cited in Holman [19] as: # Obstruction Factor There is a conductive borehole obstruction due to the presence of the other U-tube leg of the loop in the radial direction of heat flow. This interference or obstruction is addressed by including the factor (??). Hence the thermal resistance between the U-tubing wall and the borehole boundary is defined as: (20) The obstruction factor to heat transfer is effectively represented by the surface area that is shadowed by the thermal beam of one leg at an angle of (?), Figure 3. Here, it is assumed that the heat source, the tube leg represents a line heat transfer source at the center of the tube. This is the case where heat is lost from the ground heat exchanger, and it works as a heat sink for heating purposes. The heat transfer mechanism occurs in the radial direction, and circumferential heat conduction at the borehole surface is neglected. The latter assumption implicitly states an isothermal condition at the borehole surface. The envelope behind the tube, which is projected at the borehole surface, is calculated per unit length from: Simultaneously, the second leg performs the same obstruction for heat transfer, which is reflected in the total heat transfer rate in the borehole configuration. Hence, the obstruction factor can be expressed as: Equation (21) shows that the obstruction factor is only a geometry dependence parameter; its value lies in the range of (0