ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Indoor Environment
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1575878
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Progress and Advanced Technologies in Geothermal Energy Utilization for Building Heating and CoolingView all articles
Heat Extraction Performance and Formation Cooling Effect of Borehole Heat Exchangers in High-temperature Coal Mines
Provisionally accepted
Jinkui Zhang1Delong Meng1Xiang Sun1Wenliang Sun1Qiang Li1Lihan Chen1
Chaofan Chen2Boyan Meng3*
Wanlong Cai4*
Yanlong Kong5- 1Shandong Energy Group Xibei Mining Co.,Ltd, Xi'an, China
- 2China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China
- 3Three Gorges Geotechnical Consultants Co., Ltd., Wuhan, China
- 4Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
- 5Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
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High-temperature coal mines represent a promising but underexplored source of geothermal energy that can be harnessed for sustainable heating and cooling. This study evaluates the performance of borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) in active high-temperature coal mines, with a focus on their heat extraction capabilities and the associated formation cooling effects. A coupled three-dimensional numerical model is developed using OpenGeoSys to simulate heat transport processes within a network of five tunnel boreholes. The model is validated against analytical solutions and a one-dimensional wellbore simulator. Results show that the peripheral and central BHEs can reach a stable heat extraction rate of 7975 and 7950 W after 120 days, respectively, indicating that the heat extraction capacity is almost unaffected by thermal interactions between the tunnel boreholes in the short term. However, when colder water is injected into the tunnel wells, more heat can be extracted and the formation temperature will decrease faster, leading to a more significant thermal interaction between the well and a more pronounced cooling effect.Groundwater flow further alters these dynamics by redistributing heat within the subsurface and affecting the thermal interaction among boreholes. These findings highlight the dual potential of BHE systems in coal mines to both supply geothermal energy and mitigate underground heat hazards, providing practical insights for integrating such systems into district heating networks in mining regions.
Keywords: Geothermal Energy, Borehole heat exchanger, Wellbore, Coal mines, Cooling effect, OpenGeoSys
Received: 13 Feb 2025; Accepted: 29 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Meng, Sun, Sun, Li, Chen, Chen, Meng, Cai and Kong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Boyan Meng, Three Gorges Geotechnical Consultants Co., Ltd., Wuhan, China
Wanlong Cai, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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