Energy piled-raft foundation systems provide a sustainable source of energy from inside the ground to heat or cool commercial or residential buildings. The ground heat exchanger is an innovative system that consists of loops to transfer heat from the ground to the building or vice versa through the foundation (energy-piled raft foundation). Geomaterials have different storage capacities of heat depending on the types of minerals that constitute the earth material. Selecting geomaterials that have high thermal conductivity properties is a challenge to increase future use as a source of energy. The interaction of thermal-hydro-mechanical design is also a challenge in achieving symmetrical design standards. The study investigates sustainable energy sources and geomaterial types that have high thermal conductivity to address the sustainable energy source, address complexity, provide insights into current knowledge in energy piled raft foundation long-term performance and design. The findings of this research include geomaterials that have high thermal conductivity properties, advanced numerical modelling to predict thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviours, optimal thermal configurations, ways of reducing thermal loads, and hydro and mechanical loads on piled raft systems. The research also gives directions in experimental validation cases, properties of geomaterials, and long-term effects of thermal-hydro-mechanical stress on the integrity of piled raft foundations. These help contribute to a better understanding of energy-piled raft foundations’ life span and their sustainability for energy transfer.
Kassa et al. (Tue,) studied this question.