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Ground Temperatures as a Function of Location, Season, and Depth

Virginia Tech has a website dealing with Geothermal Heat Pumps,

which has much valuable information that is well worth having a look Alternative Energy - BP
at... bp.com
See how BP's advanced
I've extracted a portion of one of the pages on their site dealing with
technologies are expanding
ground temperature variations with season, location, and depth below
energy production.
the surface. Very helpful material for Ground Source Heat pumps or
Earth Tubes.

The material below is from this page on the Virginia Tech website.

Soil Temperature
Soil temperature varies from month to month as a function of incident solar radiation, rainfall, seasonal swings in
overlying air temperature, local vegetation cover, type of soil, and depth in the earth. Due to the much higher heat capacity of
soil relative to air and the thermal insulation provided by vegetation and surface soil layers, seasonal changes in soil
temperature deep in the ground are much less than and lag significantly behind seasonal changes in overlying air
temperature. Thus in spring, the soil naturally warms more slowly and to a lesser extent than the air, and by summer, it has
become cooler than the overlying air and is a natural sink for removing heat from a building. Likewise in autumn, the soil
cools more slowly and to a lesser extent than the air, and by winter it is warmer than the overlying air and a natural source for
adding heat to a building.

At soil depths greater than 30 feet below the surface, the soil temperature is relatively constant, and corresponds
roughly to the water temperature measured in groundwater wells 30 to 50 feet deep. This is referred to as the mean earth
temperature. Figure 2 shows the mean earth temperature contours across the United States. In Virginia, the mean earth
temperature ranges from 52F in the northern Shenandoah Valley and Winchester area to 62F in coastal Tidewater.

Figure 2. Mean annual earth temperature observations at individual stations,

superimposed on well-water temperature contours.

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The amplitude of seasonal changes in soil temperature on either side of the mean earth temperature depends on the
type of soil and depth below the ground surface. In Virginia the amplitude of soil temperature change at the ground surface is
typically in the range of 20-25F, depending on the extent and type of vegetation cover. At depths greater than about 30 feet
below the surface, however, the soil temperature remains relatively constant throughout the year, as shown in Figure 3,
below.

Vertical closed-loop earth heat exchangers are installed

in boreholes 200 to 300 feet deep, where seasonal changes in
soil temperature are completely damped out. Well-based
open-loop systems also extend to this depth or deeper. These
ground loop configurations are thus exposed to a constant
year-round temperature.

On the other hand, horizontal-loop, spiral-loop, and

horizontal direct-expansion (DX) loops are installed in trenches
that usually are less than 10 feet deep. For these types of
ground loops, it is important to accurately know the expected
seasonal changes in the surrounding soil temperature. The
extra cost of installing such systems in deeper trenches may
be outweighed by the gain in thermal performance, since
deeper soils have less pronounced seasonal temperature
changes and are thus closer to room temperature, which
reduces the work load of the heat pump units.

Deeper soils not only experience less extreme seasonal

variations in temperature, but the changes that do occur lag
farther behind those of shallower soils. This shifts the soil
temperature profile later in the year, such that it more closely
matches the demand for heating and cooling. Referring to
Figure 4 for example, the maximum soil temperature occurs in
late August (when cooling demand is high) at a depth of 5 feet Figure 3. Amplitude of seasonal soil temperature
below the ground surface, but occurs in late October (after the change as a function of depth below ground surface.
heating season has begun) at a depth of 12 feet below the
surface.

Thus a deeper ground loop installation would

lower the annual operating cost for electrical energy to
run the heat pumps, and over the life of a GHP system,
these accumulated savings may more than offset the
higher capital cost of burying the ground loop more
deeply. In order to determine the optimal depth of
burial, it is important to accurately know how the
seasonal change in soil temperature varies with depth,
which is mainly determined by the soil's thermal
properties.

Figure 4. Seasonal soil temperature change as a function of

depth below ground surface for an average moist soil.

Soil Thermal Properties

Heat capacity (also known as specific heat) indicates the ability of a substance to store heat energy; the greater its
heat capacity, the more heat it can gain (or lose) per unit rise (or fall) in temperature. The heat capacity of dry soil is about
0.20 BTU per pound per F of temperature change, which is only one-fifth the heat capacity of water. Therefore, moist or
saturated soils have greater heat capacities, typically in the range of 0.23 to 0.25 BTU/lb/F. As shown in Figure 3 above,

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light dry soils experience greater seasonal temperature swings at a given depth than wet soils. This is because their lower
heat capacity causes their temperature to rise or fall more than wet soils for a given amount of heat energy gained in the
spring or lost in the fall.

Thermal conductivity is another soil property that must be known in

order to design a closed-loop or direct expansion GHP system. This indicates the
rate at which heat will be transferred between the ground loop and the surrounding
soil for a given temperature gradient. The thermal conductivity of the soil and rock is
the critical value that determines the length of pipe required, which in turn affects
the installation cost as well as the energy requirements for pumping working fluid
through the ground loop.

Figure 5 indicates the thermal conductivity of different soil types. Heat

transfer capability tends to increase as soil texture becomes increasingly fine, with
loam mixtures having an intermediate value between sand and clay. As also shown
in this figure, the thermal conductivity of any soil greatly improves if the soil is
saturated with water. This effect is much greater for sandy soils than for clay or silt, Figure 5. Thermal conductivity of
since coarse soils are more porous and therefore hold more water when wet. different soil types.
Therefore, groundwater level is another important site factor in evaluating a potential
GHP project and optimizing the depth at which horizontal and spiral ground loops
should be installed.

As shown in Figure 6, soil thermal conductivity has a

significant impact on the size of the earth-coupled heat exchanger.
Thus in sandy soils for example (compare dry and saturated thermal
conductivities of Figure 5 with tabulated values in Figure 6), the
required length of the ground loop could be as low as 200 feet per
system ton if the soil is saturated with water, or as high as 300 feet
per ton if the soil is dry.

Soil thermal conductivity is of even greater importance to DX

systems and designers might consider the deployment of a soaker
hose for horizontal DX ground loops in dry areas or if the project site
is higher than the sounding terrain.
Figure 6. Thermal conductivity influence on
number of boreholes and total length of the The maps presented in the next section below enable rough
earth-coupled heat exchanger per 10 tons of estimates of soil properties for regional screening purposes, but any
load for a vertical closed-loop GHP system. sort of detailed feasbility assessment or design study should engage
a contractor for in-situ soil thermal conductivity testing. As shown in
Figure 6, the range in ground loop lengths over the typcial range of
soil thermal conductivities is 200 to 300 feet per system ton, which translates into a 30-50% difference in required land area,
and a 10-20% difference in total system capital cost. In-situ conductivity testing minimizes the uncertainty in estimating this
key thermal property and avoids undersizing or oversizing the ground loop.

Site Geology
Soil texture

As noted earlier, the thermal conductivity of dry soils tends to increase as their texture becomes increasingly fine. This
simply is a consequence of the fact that the thermal conductivity of air is about one hundred times less than that of solid soil
particles. Finer soils have more particle-to-particle contact and smaller insulating air gaps between particles than coarse
soils, hence increased conductivity. The opposite is true for soils saturated with water, when the pore spaces between
particles is filled with water rather than air, since the thermal conductivity of water is about two to three times greater than that
of solid soil particles.

As a preliminary indication of likely soil texture at a potential GHP project site, Figure 7 (being developed at USDA)
provides a soils map of Virginia that identifies general regions where various texture classes are to be found. Within a given
region, however, the detailed distribution of soil textures can vary significantly from the regional norm, particularly in heavily
built areas with a long history of construction activity. This map should not be used for project feasibility assessment or
design, but is intended to provide rough guidance for preliminary screening.

Groundwater level

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As already noted above, the extent to which the soil is routinely saturated with water greatly influence a soil's thermal
properties and the selection and design of an appropriate ground loop. Figure 8 shows the extent to which the elevation of
the groundwater table can vary from month to month, and from a dry year to a wet year, at selected locations around Virginia.
With this temporal variability in mind, Figure 9 (being developed at USDA) provides a map of the climatic normal pattern of
state groundwater levels. As with the soil texture map, this should be used for regional guidance only, and not feasibility
assessment or design.

Figure 8. Seasonal and climatic variability of groundwater levels across Virginia

(click on red circle in above map to display data plot for that well).

Depth to bedrock

Finally, depth to bedrock (i.e., the thickness of the soil layer) is an important factor that affects the feasibility of certain
ground loop configurations. As explained on the Ground Loops page, standing column wells are only possible where
bedrock is close to the surface, whereas vertical closed-loop systems require a depth to bedrock of at least 200 to 400 feet,
depending on the texture and moisture content of the overlying soil. Figure 10 (being developed at USDA) provides a contour
map showing the general depth of bedrock below the ground surface at the regional scale throughout Virginia. Like the other
maps on this page, this is provided to aid in the use of our preliminary screening tool and should not be substituted for
appropriate site surveys.

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