Horizontal and compact ground heat exchangers

This chapter describes horizontal ground heat exchanger (GHE) technology that is commonly applied to residential buildings and small non-residential buildings along with examples of innovative compact GHE designs. The essential physical properties and processes that are involved in shallow GHE behaviour are described - some of which are arguably more complex than have to be considered in other forms of GHE. Sources of design information and associated uncertainties are discussed along some of the developments in design models and methodologies. Two recently developed models that can be used to simulate GHE behaviour and capture the geometric complexities of certain forms of horizontal GHE are described in detail towards the end of this chapter.