Technical feasibility of using energy piles in tropical soils in the State of Rio de Janeiro: A numerical study

Resumo

Over time, human development requires monitoring of the renewal of resources that is difficult to
achieve, so the search for sustainable alternatives that cause less impact on nature is necessary across the planet.
Although Brazil claims to have its energy matrix based on hydroelectric generation, the State of Rio de Janeiro
differs from the Brazilian and, being one of the pillars of the Brazilian economy, any proposal to revise the
production methods of energy is necessary. It is known that 96% of the energy consumed in Rio de Janeiro comes
from non-renewable sources. Energy foundations, more precisely geothermal piles, are solutions widely studied
in northern European countries. It is known to date that its use can reduce electricity consumption by up to 30%
in cold countries like Sweden and Canada. It consists of a cooling and / or space heating system through the heat
transfer from the soil depth to the construction structure made by a pump system, besides being promising, it is an
ecological and sustainable alternative. The main motivation of this study is to verify whether, in tropical soils and
tropical climates, such a reduction can also be achieved. To achieve the proposed objective, this work will consist
of numerical analysis via Finite Element Method (FEM) implemented by the authors in the MatLab 2020 program
so that there is greater mathematical rigor. Thus, according to the thermal performance of each soil with the
interaction of the pile element, it is possible to predict an application checking its viability in each location.