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Borehole engineering encompasses the part of mining that involves the process of drilling boreholes and their utilization (e.g., for research, exploration, exploitation, and injection purposes). According to legal regulations, mining pits must be closed after their use, and this applies to pits in the form of boreholes as well. The Laboratory of Geoenergetics at AGH University of Krakow is involved in adapting old, exploited and already closed boreholes for energetic purposes. This includes geothermal applications, as well as energy storage in rock formations and boreholes. Geoenergetics is a relatively new concept that combines geothermal energy with energy storage in rock formations (including boreholes). One type of analysed borehole is a freezing borehole. They are used, for example, in drilling mining shafts that are in the vicinity of aquifers and are drilled using the rotary drilling method with a reverse circulation of drilling mud, or in peat bogs. For borehole heat exchangers based on freezing boreholes for long-term mathematical modelling, several heating scenarios were considered with several thermal loads. The maximum average power obtained after one year of usage of four boreholes with variable temperatures was 11 kW. With the usage of 10 boreholes the power reached over 27 kW. The heat-carrying temperature was assumed to be 22 °C during early summer (June and July) and 2 °C during the rest of the year. When considering stable exploitation during a 10-year period with four boreholes with the same temperatures, a heating power of over 12 kW was obtained, as well as a power of over 28 kW when considering using 10 boreholes. The maximum amount of heat obtained during the 10-year period using 10 boreholes was over 8.8 thousand GJ. Once they have fulfilled their function, these boreholes lose their technological significance. In the paper, the concept is outlined, and the results of the analysis are described using the numerical program BoHEx.

The reduction of CO2 emissions has become a global concern. In this regard, the EU intends to cut CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to those of 1990. The utilization of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) in EU countries is considered the most effective measure for decarbonizing heating and cooling. SGE systems utilize heat energy collected from the earth’s crust to provide secure, clean, and ubiquitous energy. This paper provides a literature review on the use of SGE for heating and cooling purposes. The latest advances in materials, new innovative structures, and techno-economic optimization approaches have been discussed in detail. Shallow geothermal energy’s potential is first introduced, and the innovative borehole structures to improve performance and reduce installation cost is outlined. This is followed by an extensive survey of different types of conventional and thermally enhanced collectors and grouts. Attention is mainly given to the techno-economic analysis and optimization approaches. In published case studies, the least economic break-even point against fossil fuel-based heating systems occurs within 2.5 to 17 years, depending on the local geological conditions, installation efficiency, energy prices, and subsidy. Ground source heat pumps’ cost-effectiveness could be improved through market maturity, increased efficiency, cheap electricity, and good subsidy programs.

Investigating the constructions of borehole heat exchangers with high efficiency (unit heat transfer between the heat carrier and ground) is important. One of the means to improve efficiency is the use of the most efficient construction of the borehole heat exchanger. The paper describes research on borehole heat exchangers’ thermal efficiency, which is mainly characterized by parameters obtained from a thermal response test: effective thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistivity. The borehole heat exchangers of the Laboratory of Geoenergetics in Poland were studied. Based on thermal response test interpretation and empirical equations, one of which is proprietary, the heat transfer is calculated independent of the duration of the thermal response test. Other conditions for using borehole heat exchangers in downtowns are discussed. The research aims to determine the best borehole heat exchanger design from five basic possibilities studied. A lack of unequivocal statements regarding this matter in the literature was observed. The influence of the interpretation method on the research results is determined. A single U-tube system filled with gravel is shown to be the most advantageous design by a very small margin. The applied interpretation methods, however, confirm the hitherto ambiguity in the selection of the best construction. The maximum heat carrier temperature at the end of thermal response tests was 32 °C for a geological profile mostly made up of clay (low thermal conductivity) and 23 °C for Carpathian flysch (sandstones and shales, with a higher value of conductivity).

Geothermal energy can be useful after extraction from geothermal wells, borehole heat exchangers and/or natural sources. Types of geothermal boreholes are geothermal wells (for geothermal water production and injection) and borehole heat exchangers (for heat exchange with the ground without mass transfer). The purpose of geothermal production wells is to harvest the geothermal water present in the aquifer. They often involve a pumping chamber. Geothermal injection wells are used for injecting back the produced geothermal water into the aquifer, having harvested the energy contained within. The paper presents the parameters of geothermal boreholes in Poland (geothermal wells and borehole heat exchangers). The definitions of geothermal boreholes, geothermal wells and borehole heat exchangers were ordered. The dates of construction, depth, purposes, spatial orientation, materials used in the construction of geothermal boreholes for casing pipes, method of water production and type of closure for the boreholes are presented. Additionally, production boreholes are presented along with their efficiency and the temperature of produced water measured at the head. Borehole heat exchangers of different designs are presented in the paper. Only 19 boreholes were created at the Laboratory of Geoenergetics at the Faculty of Drilling, Oil and Gas, AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow; however, it is a globally unique collection of borehole heat exchangers, each of which has a different design for identical geological conditions: heat exchanger pipe configuration, seal/filling and shank spacing are variable. Using these boreholes, the operating parameters for different designs are tested. The laboratory system is also used to provide heat and cold for two university buildings. Two coefficients, which separately characterize geothermal boreholes (wells and borehole heat exchangers) are described in the paper.

The development of civilization, and subsequent increase in the number of new buildings, poses engineering problems which are progressively more difficult to solve, especially in the field of geotechnics and geoengineering. When designing new facilities, particular attention should be paid to environmental aspects, and thus any new facility should be a passive building, fully self-sufficient in energy. The use of load-bearing energy piles could be a solution. This article presents research on the cement slurry formulas with the addition of graphite and graphene, that can be used as a material for load-bearing piles. The proposed solution is to introduce U-tubes into the pile to exchange heat with the rock mass (the so-called energy piles). A comparison of four slurry formulas is presented: the first one consisting mainly of cement (CEM I), graphite, and water, and the remaining three with different percentages of graphene relative to the weight of dry cement. The results could contribute to the industrial application of those formulas in the future.

This work concerns borehole heat exchangers and their testing using apparatus for thermal response tests. In the theoretical part of the article, an equation was derived from the known equation of heat flow, on which the interpretation of the thermal response test was based. The practical part presents the results of several measurements taken in the AGH Laboratory of Geoenergetics. They were aimed at examining the potential heat exchange capacity between the heat carrier and rock mass. Measurement results in the form of graphs are shown in relation to the examined, briefly described wells. Result analysis made it possible to draw conclusions regarding the interpretation of the thermal response test. The method of averaging the measurement results was subjected to further study. The measuring apparatus recorded data at a frequency of one second, however such accuracy was too large to be analyzed efficiently. Therefore, an average of every 1 min, every 10 min, and every 60 min was proposed. The conclusions stemming from the differences in the values of effective thermal conductivity in the borehole heat exchanger, resulting from different data averaging, were described. In the case of three borehole heat exchangers, ground properties were identical. The effective thermal conductivity λeff was shown to depend on various borehole heat exchanger (BHE) designs, heat carrier flow geometry, and grout parameters. It is important to consider the position of the pipes relative to each other. As shown in the charts, the best (the highest) effective thermal conductivity λeff occurred in BHE-1 with a coaxial construction. At the same time, this value was closest to the theoretical value of thermal conductivity of rocks λ, determined on the basis of literature. The standard deviation and the coefficient of variation confirmed that the effective thermal conductivity λeff, calculated for different time intervals, showed little variation in value. The values of effective thermal conductivity λeff for each time interval for the same borehole exchanger were similar in value. The lowest values of effective thermal conductivity λeff most often appeared for analysis with averaging every 60 min, and the highest—for analysis with averaging every 1 min. For safety reasons, when designing (number of BHEs), safer values should be taken for analysis, i.e., lower, averaging every 60 min.

Research on borehole heat exchangers is described on the development of a method for the determination, based on thermal response tests, of the effective thermal conductivity and the thermal resistivity for borehole heat exchangers. This advance is important, because underground thermal energy storage increasingly consists of systems with a large number of borehole heat exchangers, and their effective thermal conductivities and thermal resistivities are significant parameters in the performance of the system (whether it contains a single borehole or a field of boreholes). Borehole thermal energy storages provide a particularly beneficial method for using ground energy as a clean thermal energy supply. This benefit is especially relevant in cities with significant smog in winter. Here, the authors describe, in detail, the development of a formula that is a basis for the thermal response test that is derived from Fourier’s Law, utilizing a new way of describing the basic parameters of the thermal response test, i.e., the effective thermal conductivity and the thermal resistivity. The new method is based on the resistivity equation, for which a solution giving a linear regression with zero directional coefficient is found. Experimental tests were performed and analyzed in support of the theory, with an emphasis on the interpretation differences that stem from the scope of the test.