Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Performance analysis of domed roof integrated with earth-to-air heat

exchanger system to meet thermal comfort conditions in buildings
Ali Mirzazade Akbarpoor, Amin Haghighi Poshtiri*, Faraz Biglari
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Guilan, P.O. Box 3756, Rasht, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present study, an integrated cooling system consisting an earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE) and
Received 31 May 2020 a domed roof is investigated numerically to meet the thermal comfort conditions and supply the cooling
Received in revised form demand for a building. Simulation of airflow in the EAHE and a test room with the domed roof is per-
16 December 2020
formed with ANSYS FLUENT software three-dimensionally, and the thermal behavior of the system is
Accepted 27 December 2020
modeled with the code developed in MATLAB software. Furthermore, for verifying the numerical results
Available online 31 December 2020
of EAHE modeling, an experimental study is conducted. The impact of both geometric and environmental
parameters on the system performance is also investigated. The obtained results reveal that the system is
Keywords:
Earth-to-air heat exchanger
capable of providing thermal comfort conditions, according to adaptive thermal comfort standard (ATCS),
Domed roof for the test room with a maximum cooling demand of about 1000 W alone and without consuming
Passive cooling electric energy by using three pipes with a length of 35 m and a diameter of 0.4 m. The application of the
Natural ventilation proposed system instead of the split inverter air conditioner and the evaporative cooler to provide a
Condensation similar cooling load can reduce the electrical energy consumption up to 0.360 kW h, and 0.200 kW h,
respectively. In addition, the environmental analysis indicates that the utilization of this system instead
of the split inverter air conditioner and evaporative air cooler with similar capacities leads to respective
361.89 kg and 216.06 kg reduction in CO2 emissions for summer months. Finally, the application of the
proposed integrated system for a two-story building with domed roof is evaluated. The results show the
ability of the system to provide thermal comfort for the two-story building with a maximum cooling
demand of approximately 300 W for each floor using two pipes with a length of 35 m and a diameter of
0.4 m.
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction weather during summer days using conventional mechanical

Nowadays, with an increase in the world population and the
growth of urban and rural areas, energy consumption becomes an
important issue. The increasing demands for energy besides the
shortage of fuel supplies have led to an increase in power genera-
tion costs. Conventional heating, ventilation and air conditioning
(HVAC) equipment, in addition to increase in the energy con-
sumption and the peak electricity demand, brings about environ-
mental drawbacks (due to ozone layer depletion and global
warming by pollutants such as CFC, HCFC, and CO2). Hence, the
demand for the design and construction of energy-efficient HVAC
systems using renewable energy sources is an increasing require-
ment. Providing thermal comfort conditions for areas with hot
ventilation systems is very expensive and it is not favorable.
For resolving the aforementioned problems, the use of passive
cooling and natural ventilators is proposed for cooling purposes.
These methods are environmentally friendly and also cost-efficient
compared to other traditional methods. Therefore, in the present
study, the feasibility of using a new and clean way, i.e. the simul-
taneous use of the earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE), as the
passive cooling system, and domed roof (natural ventilator) in
providing thermal comfort in the buildings is assessed. Accordingly,
the literature review is presented in two separate sections.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: haghighi_p@guilan.ac.ir (A. Haghighi Poshtiri).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.110
0960-1481/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Nomenclature u mean velocity of fluid (m=s)

u* dimensionless velocity
A diameter of domed roof aperture (m) V volume (m3 )
A1 first floor outlet vent height (m) Vh wind velocity at an altitude of h (m=s)
A2 second floor outlet vent height (m) W burial depth of underground pipe (m)
Az inner surface of pipe between two adjacent soil y* dimensionless wall coordinate
computational plates (m) yP distance from point P to wall
ACH air change per hour (1=h)
B function of partial steam pressure in Eq. (24) Greek symbols
CP specific heat capacity (J=kg K) a thermal diffusivity (m2 =s)
DAB mass diffusivity (m2 =s) d pipe wall thickness
d diameter of EAHE pipe (m) G diffusion coefficient, or, ratio of the first floor outlet
dz differential distance between two adjacent soil vent area to that of the second floor
computational plates (m) ε turbulent dissipation rate (m2 =s3 )
Eannual total annual energy saving of the system compared to m dynamic viscosity (Pa s)
a conventional system ðkW h =yrÞ mCO2 emission conversion factor (kg=kW h)
f wettability factor n kinematic viscosity (m2 =s)
fi external body force in i-direction (N=m3 ) r density (kg=m3 )
H height of the computational domain (m), or, specific 4 scalar property (k or ε)
enthalpy (kJ=kg) u humidity ratio
Hfg specific enthalpy of vaporization (kJ=kg)
h convection heat transfer coefficient (W= m2 K), or, Dimensionless terms
height from earth surface (m) Le Lewis number (a=DAB )
hm mass transfer coefficient (kg=s m2 ) Nu Nusselt number (ha d=ka )
j coordinate directions or nodesi Pr Prandtl number (CP m=k)
k thermal conductivity (W=m K) Re Reynolds number (ud=n)
kP turbulence kinetic energy at point P (m2 = s2 )
L length of EAHE pipe (m) Subscripts
m number of nodes a air
mtcer total quality of CO2 emission reduction during its amb ambient
lifecycle (kg) avg average
m_ mass flow rate (kg=s) cwf condensed water film
N economic lifespan (yr) d dew point
n number of buried pipes of EAHE h altitude
P pressure (Pa) ma monthly average
p time point out outlet
Ql latent heat (W) Pc pipe center
Qroom room cooling demand (W) room1 first floor room
Qs heat transferred from dry air to the earth (W) room2 second floor room
R thermal resistance (m2 K=W) su undisturbed soil
r radius of underground pipe (m) wv water vapor
RH relative humidity
S4 user-defined source terms in Eq. (5) Abbreviations
T temperature (K) ATCS adaptive thermal comfort standard
Taverage the average temperature of the adjacent nodes of the EAHE earth-to-air heat exchanger
pipe center node (K) EER energy efficiency ratio
t time (s) HVAC heating, ventilation and air conditioning
u velocity of fluid (m=s)

1.1. Review of the literature on vaulted and domed roofs
The use of passive and natural systems, which has been of in-
terest since past times, can reduce the need for mechanical venti-
lation systems. In this regard, the famous wind catchers of Iran,
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan, as well as domed roof buildings
constructed in hot and arid areas of Iran can be mentioned. This
motivates many researchers in the field of using domed and vaulted
roofs.
Yaghoubi [1] studied a variety of patterns, such as flow separa-
tion, turbulence, and circulation around domed roofs by con-
structing a simple laboratory model of these roofs. Runsheng [2]
et al. compared the solar energy absorption of vaulted and flat roofs
with the same area. The results showed a higher amount of energy
absorption for the vaulted roof, which rises by increasing the vault
angle. It was also found that the part of the vaulted roof that faces
north-south, absorbs less energy in summer and more energy in
winter compared to the east-west parts. Hadavand [3] et al.
explored the west to east wind flow on a north-south vaulted roof
and compared the performance of the vaulted and flat roofs in
terms of convection and radiation heat transfer. For this purpose,
they used the two-dimensional RNG k-ε turbulence model to pre-
dict turbulent flow field, separation and recirculating patterns
around buildings with vaulted and flat roofs. The pressure differ-
ence on the vaulted and flat roofs was also compared in several rim
angles and different wind speeds. It was observed that the average

1266
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
daily heat flux for the vaulted roof was lower than the flat roof.
Asfour and Gadi [4] compared the potential of vaulted and domed
roofs in improving the natural ventilation by employing compu-
tational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Using the Fluent software,
the performance of natural ventilation in different roofs was
simulated and evaluated three-dimensionally. Additionally, the
effects of various geometric and environmental parameters were
studied and increases the inflow rate of the building by the use of
vaulted roof was concluded. Moreover, it was realized that the
exhaust of air from the outlet vent of vaulted roof instead of the
window, improves the natural ventilation of the building, especially
in the central and near to the ceiling areas. Furthermore, the results
indicated similarities between domed and vaulted roofs in terms of
the natural ventilation of the building and put emphasis on the
dependency of the amount of air suction in these roofs on wind
direction. The analytical comparison of the absorbed solar irradi-
ance between four different types of domed and flat roofs was
performed by Faghih and Bahadori [5], and the predominance of all
types of domed roofs in solar irradiance absorption was concluded.
They also examined the effect of utilizing glazed tiles on solar
irradiance absorption of roofs and deduced the reduction of
absorbing solar irradiance in domed roofs; which is why the roofs
of mosques in Iran is made of glazed tiles. In another investigation
[6], they also studied the distribution of air pressure over the
domed surface numerically and compared the results with exper-
imental data. In their 3-D simulation, three different conditions
were considered for the windows and the effect of opening or
closing of a hole on the domed roof was surveyed. The obtained
results of this study can be beneficial for determining heat transfer
coefficient due to wind on domed roofs. They also examined the
thermal performance of buildings with domed roofs in another
study in order to assess air temperature reduction inside the resi-
dential buildings in hot seasons [7]. Their results highlighted the
priority of the buildings with domed roofs in terms of thermal
performance compared to flat roofs, especially in the case of using
glazed tiles. In other words, the use of such tiles, besides the
aesthetic reasons, would result in indoor temperature decrease
during the hot seasons and assists the provision of thermal comfort.
Rahmatmand et al. [8] assessed the airflow pattern around a
building with domed roof, both experimentally and numerically.
They constructed a smaller model of a real conventional domed
roof (scale of 1:54), which included six windows and an aperture on
roof and evaluated it in wind tunnel. Thereafter, a 3-D simulation of
turbulent flow was carried out for the investigated model within
the wind tunnel and revealed the complex adjacent recirculation
flows around these types of buildings. It was also observed that the
open aperture possesses an acceptable discharge coefficient for air
conditioning which not only provides thermal comfort conditions
but also reduces energy consumption. Haghighi et al. [9] evaluated
the efficiency of the evaporative cooling technique in cooling a
vaulted roof building, numerically. The effects of different envi-
ronmental parameters, including wind speed, ambient tempera-
ture and relative humidity on the performance of the system were
studied. Furthermore, the capability of the system in providing
thermal comfort was also analyzed according to the adaptive
thermal comfort standard (ATCS). Finally, they listed the provinces
in Iran with the potential of using this system. Numerical evaluation
of the natural cooling in the one-story domed roof building using a
solar absorption chiller was conducted by Haghighi et al. [10]. They
studied the effect of geometric parameters, such as the inlet and
outlet vent size and the height of the cooling channel on ACH. In
addition, the room temperature was also obtained for different
values of cooling demand, and ACH was investigated under
different environmental conditions. Moreover, the ability of the
proposed system to provide thermal comfort in the room was also
1267
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
examined. From the obtained results the adjustability of ACH by
changing the size of inlet and outlet vent was concluded. It was also
observed that when ACH rises, comfort conditions, in accordance
with ATCS, can be met under larger values of room cooling demand.
Furthermore, it was figured out that the deployment of three
cooling plates in the channel rather than two plates increases the
cooling demand for supplying thermal comfort from 775 W to
1295 W according to ATCS. In addition, it was observed that the use
of the introduced system for cooling a building in Bandar Abbas,
reduces the electric energy consumption about 45% compared to a
split air conditioner with the same capacity. Sedighi et al. [11]
conducted numerical research on multi-domed roofs that were
commonly used in Iranian ancient markets. They modeled 3-D
geometries by developing a code and compared the received so-
lar irradiance and surface temperature distribution on flat and
domed roofs. The impacts of direction and height to radius ratio of
the domes on the shadow area during a summer day were inves-
tigated. The results of their study indicated that, despite the
advantage of using multi-dome roofs in creating shadow, the
overall heat transfer from these roofs is increased compared to flat
roofs, which can be considered as a disadvantage.
1.2. Review of the literature on earth-to-air heat exchanger
The use of heat transfer between the air and the earth for
cooling in summer and heating in winter is a conventional process
since the past times. Due to the high soil thermal inertia, the un-
derground temperature is lower in summer and higher in the
winter compared to the ambient air [12]. Knowing this fact assisted
the humans to profit from the earth’s thermal potential to mod-
erate adverse weather conditions and provides comfort.
De Paepe and Janssens [13] used a 1-D analytical method (i.e.
the ε-NTU method) to examine the effect of various parameters,
including length, diameter, and number of tubes on EAHE thermo-
hydraulic performance. They also considered two parallel and
serpentine configurations for the underground tubes. A relation
was established for determining the geometric parameters of EAHE
so that optimum thermal effectiveness with acceptable pressure
drop can be achieved regardless of soil properties and environ-
mental conditions. Finally, diagrams for designing the underground
tubes were extracted from the results of this research. Ghosal et al.
[14] performed experimental and numerical investigation on an
EAHE connected to a greenhouse (in Delhi, India). MATLAB soft-
ware was used for thermal modeling of the mentioned EAHE. The
performance of the system was monitored over a year and in three
different weather conditions, including hot and dry (March to
June), warm and humid (June to September) and winter (November
to February). The results showed an increase of about 6e7  C and a
decrease of about 3e4  C in the average temperature of the
greenhouse in winter and summer, respectively, compared to the
case with no EAHE. Al-Ajmi et al. [15] used the TRNSYS software to
simulate EAHE and a residential building with dimensions of
10 m  10 m  3 m in Kuwait’s hot and arid climate. They reported
1700 W decrease in required cooling demand of the building
equipped with a heat exchanger in 2770 h from May to September.
Their proposed system was also able to lessen the room average
temperature about 2.8  C during summer peak hours (mid-July). It
was found that the deployment of underground channel for air pre-
cooling would lead to a decrease in energy consumption of the
building about 30% during the hot season. In an analytical investi-
gation by Cucumo et al. [16], the 1-D and transient performance of
EAHE in cooling and heating of the buildings was evaluated
considering condensation phenomena. A suitable model for
assessing the performance of heat exchanger was presented by
writing a mass and heat balance equation for air inside the
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
underground pipes considering an appropriate temperature profile
for the soil. Chel and Tiwari [17] executed numerical and experi-
mental studies on the utilization of an integrated system of the
vaulted roof and EAHE for ventilating a residential building with six
rooms in New Delhi, India. They evaluated the thermal perfor-
mance of the system in summer and winter by the use of the
fourth-order RungeeKutta method for solving energy balance
equations. The results indicated that by the use of the mentioned
system, the indoor air temperature during summer and winter will
be 5%e15% less and more than the ambient temperature, respec-
tively. Zhang et al. [18] studied the airflow patterns and thermal
performance of a buried duct with a rectangular cross-section using
the CFD technique; in addition, a two-layer turbulence model was
used inside the duct to improve the solution accuracy. They
concluded that even large changes in inlet airflow turbulence in-
tensity and the outlet size have an insignificant effect on the
average Nusselt number of the duct. However, the effect of duct
geometric parameters, airflow speed and the temperature differ-
ence between the inlet air and the duct surface on the average
Nusselt number was considerable. The thermal performance of
EAHE to reduce the cooling demand of buildings in the summer
was examined by Bansal et al. [19], numerically. Using the CFD
technique, they considered a transient and implicit model for the
system and the effects of pipe material and air velocity on the
performance of the heat exchanger were studied. For the validation
of the proposed numerical method, an experimental set-up in a
laboratory in western India was used. The results showed a
reduction of about 8e12.7  C in room temperature by the use of a
channel with a length of 23.42 m and an air velocity of 2e5 m/s. In
addition, the examination of steel and PVC pipes revealed the
insignificant effect of pipe material on the system performance.
However, they inferred that the airflow velocity inside the pipe
affects the system performance intensely, so that with an increase
in air velocity from 2 to 5 m/s, the system’s coefficient of perfor-
mance varies from 1.3 to 2.9. Maerefat and Haghighi [20] explored
the performance of an integrated passive cooling EAHE system with
solar chimney for flat-roofed buildings, analytically. They investi-
gated the influence of geometric parameters (length, diameter, and
number of buried pipes as well as the length and number of solar
chimneys) and environmental parameters (outdoor temperature
and solar flux) on the system performance with different cooling
demands. The results indicated the capability of the system for
cooling in hot summer days without the need for electricity.
Moreover, with a proper design, the system can provide thermal
comfort during many hours throughout the summer days. In an
investigation by Vaz et al. [21], the use of an underground air duct
system for the ventilation of a room with a volume of 55 m3, in
southern Brazil, was studied experimentally and numerically. Their
goal was to deploy a renewable energy source such as thermal
energy in the soil to reduce energy consumption for cooling and
heating of buildings. A 3-D method was utilized to simulate the
buried duct and obtained numerical results using Fluent software.
Regarding their results, a temperature reduction up to 4  C in
summer, and a temperature increase up to 8  C in the winter were
achieved. Fairly a good match was observed between the numerical
and experimental results with a maximum error of less than 15%.
The use of EAHE in three different climates of Italy was studied
numerically in both summer and winter by Ascione et al. [22] and
the maximum performance was obtained in wet and cold weather
conditions as Milan, for both summer and winter. In a climate like
Milan, the maximum energy savings of thermal energy and primary
energy were reported 44% and 37%, respectively. According to the
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Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
results of their economic analysis, the utilization of EAHE is cost-
effective only in places where it is easy to dig the ground for the
installation of heat exchangers. In addition, according to the
insignificant impact of tube material on the system performance,
the use of high-priced tubes, such as metal tubes, is not recom-
mended. Sehli et al. [23] studied the effect of Reynolds number and
pipe form factor on the performance of EAHE embedded at various
depths using a 1-D steady numerical model. As regards to the ob-
tained results, reducing the Reynolds number and increasing the
form factor would bring about a decrease in outlet air temperature
of the underground pipe. They also stated that the EAHE alone
could not provide indoor thermal comfort, but if coupled with a
mechanical air-conditioning system, the demand for energy in
residential buildings in southern Algeria would be decreased. An
instruction for designing earth to air heating systems assisted by a
solar chimney as natural heating equipment was presented by
Haghighi and Maerefat [24] for flat-roofed buildings. By analyzing
the effect of geometric parameters, they reported the better per-
formance of the system for the air gap and aperture of 0.2 m for
solar chimney and also diameter and length of 0.2 m and 25 m for
the heat exchanger’s pipe, respectively. Additionally, they
concluded that the highest performance of the system occurs
around noon. Moreover, if the ambient temperature is low and the
cooling demand is high, it is possible to meet the thermal condi-
tions according to ATCS standard by designing an appropriate solar
chimney and heat exchanger even in low solar irradiance of 250 W/
m2 and the ambient temperature of 0  C. Benhammou et al. [25]
conducted a parametric study on the thermal performance of EAHE
for cooling the building in the summer in the Algerian Sahara
condition. They examined the effects of geometric and dynamic
parameters on the thermal performance of the system by devel-
oping a transient 1-D model and inferred that the outlet temper-
ature of the embedded pipe decreases with increasing pipe length
and rises with increasing cross-sectional area and the inlet air ve-
locity. Thermal performance of the heat exchanger was also
compared in transient and steady states conditions. From the ob-
tained results, it can be concluded that in transient conditions, the
effect of pipe diameter, air velocity, and system operating time on
the thermal performance of EAHE is higher than the steady-state
conditions. Additionally, for higher pipe length as well as short
operating time, the thermal performance of the transient condition
is close to that of steady-state condition. Mathur et al. [26] studied
the effect of soil thermophysical properties on EAHE performance
numerically. In order to simulate the system performance, a 3-D
transient model was utilized. Then, temperature drop, heat trans-
fer rate and system’s coefficient of performance were compared for
the three different soil types when the system was operated
continuously for 12 h. It was observed that the dissipation of heat
from the underground heat exchanger pipes to the surrounding soil
hinges on the thermal conductivity of the soil. The results also
revealed the performance deterioration in the continuous opera-
tion of the system for a long time, which was more prominent for
soils with lower thermal conductivity due to the saturation of the
soil around the heat exchanger pipes. In such a case, the perfor-
mance deterioration can be compensated by the usage of longer
pipes. In a numerical and experimental investigation, Khabbaz et al.
[27] studied the utilization of EAHE for cooling a building in a semi-
arid region in Morocco. They assessed the system performance over
24 days in summer and concluded that EAHE is an appropriate
semi-passive system for ventilation. By using this system, when the
ambient air temperature exceeds 40  C, the air temperature at the
inlet of the building (i.e. outlet of the heat exchanger) would be
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
25  C and the relative humidity would be 40%. Furthermore, nu-
merical simulation of the heat exchanger was carried out with the
TRANSYS software. The maximum difference between the calcu-
lated air temperature from numerical method and the measured
value in the experiment was 0.5  C. In addition, for the inlet air
temperature of 44.6  C, the specific cooling capacity of the system
was 58 W/m2 and 55 W/m2 for one-pipe and three-pipe heat
exchanger, respectively. Benhammou et al. [28] carried out an
analytical study of the building’s cooling using EAHE in summer
under hot and dry weather conditions. Two transient models using
complex finite Fourier transform were utilized to model EAHE and
study the thermal performance of the building. The results indi-
cated the maximum of 11  C reductions in indoor temperature in
the case of utilizing EAHE in a well-insulated building. Yusof et al.
[29] studied an EAHE in a simulator laboratory experimentally. The
inlet air temperature and soil temperature were considered to be
31e35  C and 23e25  C, respectively. The inlet airflow rate was also
varied from 0.03 to 0.07 kg/s and the length of the PVC pipe sur-
rounded by soil was 8.7 m. The results revealed the highest tem-
perature reduction of 9.62  C for the airflow rate of 0.03 kg/s and
the soil temperature of 23  C. According to their conclusion, this
system has the potential to be used in the tropical regions. Liu et al.
[30] conducted an experimental study and economic evaluation on
the thermal performance of a vertical earth-to-air heat exchanger
located in Hunan, China, which has warm summers and cold
winters. The results revealed that the outlet air temperature of the
system varies between 22.4  C and 24.4  C in summer and
16  Ce18  C in the winter. The economic analysis of the system also
indicated that the energy payback time and the monetary payback
period are 8.2 and 17.5 years, respectively. In addition, the reduc-
tion potential of CO2 over a 20-year period is 7170.42 kg. Brum et al.
[31] proposed a design guideline on the application of EAHE with
multiple tubes for the warm Brazilian climate. Conducting nu-
merical simulations, they determined the relationship between the
geometrical configuration of tubes and the EAHE efficiency. They
concluded that the performance of EAHE could be improved
through increasing the volume occupied by the underground tubes.
Also, it would be feasible to expand the horizontal distance be-
tween the tubes rather than the vertical one. Cuny et al. [32] carried
out a multi-objective optimization of EAHE for various French cli-
mates. They validated the numerical modeling with the experi-
mental data. The results indicated that the optimum configuration
of underground pipes is when the length of pipes is large, the air
velocity inside the pipes and the pipe diameter are small, and the
pipes are buried in an intermediate length. Also, it was observed
that EAHE can be deployed viably in different French climates. Hsu
et al. [33] coupled EAHE to a cafeteria located in Taiwan for cooling
purposes during the hot months. The experimental setup of EAHE
included seven underground PVC pipes with a 25 cm diameter, a
length of 50 m, and a burial depth of 3.5 m. The obtained data
revealed that the proposed system could effectively be used in the
subtropical climate with a COP of 27.2.
Ground heat exchangers can assist conventional systems in
providing thermal comfort and electricity in buildings. Ruoping
et al. [34] studied the integrated system of ground heat exchangers
and a solar photovoltaic system in the arid climate of China. The
results indicated that the ground heat exchanger could reduce the
temperature of solar panels effectively, causing an increase of about
7.9% in the annual electricity yield compared to a single photovol-
taic system. Ascione et al. [35] built an experimental setup for
1269
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
assessing the viability of ground heat exchangers in the cooling
process of the ventilated air. The test building was a nearly zero-
energy building whose operation was evaluated hourly in the
Mediterranean climate, during the hot months. Analysis of the
hourly energy balance and thermal comfort conditions showed the
potential of ground heat exchangers in achieving the zero-energy
building target.
Reviewing the available literature reveals that integrating
vaulted/domed-roof buildings with the EAHE was only investigated
by Chel and Tiwari [17]. In their studies, the main focus was on the
cooling and heating capacity of the system, and the capability of the
system in terms of natural ventilation was not considered. They
deployed an analytical model and energy balance equation for
estimating the air temperature at the outlet of underground pipes
and the average temperatures of rooms, respectively. Nonetheless,
the simultaneous consideration of geometrical parameters of EAHE
and shaped-roof buildings and their effects on the performance of
the system has not been investigated independently up until now.
For the sake of filling this research gap, in the present study, the
natural ventilation capability of the domed roof integrated with the
EAHE as a passive cooling system to meet thermal comfort condi-
tions in the indoor environment under different climatic conditions
and in hot months of the year is investigated. To evaluate the
feasibility of the system in the natural ventilation, a 3-D CFD
simulation is carried out to obtain the air flow patterns in the
computational domain and ACH values in the test buildings. Also,
for modeling the thermal performance of the EAHE, a novel tran-
sient 1-D thermodynamic model is proposed, which can estimate
the amount of condensation within buried pipes. Unlike the pre-
vious works, in this study, the effects of both geometrical param-
eters (length, diameter, number of underground pipes, and domed
roof aperture size) and environmental conditions (ambient air
temperature and relative humidity, wind velocity, and soil tem-
perature) on the performance of the integrated system are
considered, simultaneously. Then, the viability of the introduced
system in meeting thermal comfort requirements in a single test
room and more modern applications (i.e., two-story building) is
examined according to ISO 7730 and ATCS standards.
2. Description of the system
As shown in Fig. 1, in the present study, a test room with di-
mensions of 4 m  4 m  3.125 m and a hemisphere with a radius of
1.95 m as its domed roof is selected as the model. According to the
figure, the wind blows from the left to the right and it is assumed to
be unchanged during the operation of the system. This building is
connected to an earth-to-air heat exchanger, so that the outlet of
the EAHE pipes enters the room through an aperture in the wall. As
the wind flow passes along the roof surface, the velocity increases
at the top of the dome and consequently the pressure decreases.
This pressure difference ventilates the air inside the room through
the aperture embedded in the roof. By exiting the warm air out of
the domed roof, fresh air is drawn from the underground pipe into
the room. Therefore, using the outlet air of the heat exchanger,
thermal comfort conditions can be provided in the room.
According to the adaptive thermal comfort standard (ANSI/
ASHRAE 55), the acceptable range for room temperature when no
mechanical devices are used for air conditioning is as follows [36]:
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the computational domain.

8
>
>
>
> Upper 80% acceptability limit ð CÞ ¼ 0:31T maðoutÞ þ 21:3 ; 10 C  T maðoutÞ  33:5 C
>
>
>
>
> Upper 90% acceptability limit ð CÞ ¼
< 0:31T maðoutÞ þ 20:3 ; 10 C  T maðoutÞ  33:5 C
Optimal comfort temperature ð CÞ ¼ 0:31T maðoutÞ þ 17:8 (1)
>
>
>
>
> Lower 90% acceptability limit ð CÞ ¼ 0:31T maðoutÞ þ 15:3 ; 10 C  T maðoutÞ  33:5 C
>
> 
> 10 C  T maðoutÞ  33:5 C
: Lower 80% acceptability limit ð CÞ ¼
> 0:31T maðoutÞ þ 14:3 ;

where T maðoutÞ is the mean monthly outdoor air temperature. It
 C,
should be noted that when T maðoutÞ is above 33.5 the maximum
allowable room temperature is considered to be about 32  C.
The ISO 7730 Standard, which is a general standard for me-
chanical ventilation systems, is also used to check thermal comfort
conditions. According to this standard, to meet thermal comfort
conditions in the summer, the temperature of the room should be

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Table 1 considered for cooling demand.

Geometrical parameters utilized for the thermal modeling of the EAHE.

Parameter Value 3.1. Simulation of airflow around and inside the test room
PVC pipe length, (m) 25, 35, 45
PVC pipe diameter, (m) 0.2e1 For simulation of airflow in the computational domain, a 3-D
PVC pipe thickness, (m) 0.012 realizable k-ε turbulence model has been utilized. The governing
PVC pipe thermal conductivity, (W= mK) 0.16
equations assuming incompressibility of the air due to the low
Number of buried pipes 1, 2, 3, 4
Horizontal distance (m) 2 speed and steady state conditions are defined as follows:
Burial depth, (m) 5 The conservation of mass equation:

vðrui Þ
¼0 (3)
between 23 and 26  C with the relative humidity in the range of vxi
30%e70% [37]. The conservation of momentum equation [40]:
  !
v rui uj vP v vui vuj v  
3. System modeling ¼ þ þ þ  rui 0 uj 0 þ fi (4)
vxj vxi vxj vxj vxi vxj
In the present study, modeling of the integrated system is car-
in which rui 0 uj 0 denotes the Reynolds stresses, which are
ried out in two parts. First, using ANSYS Fluent software, 3-D CFD
dependent on the average velocity.
simulations of the computational domain, including underground
The turbulence kinetic energy, k, and turbulent dissipation rate,
pipes, inside and outside the test building, are conducted. Through
ε, can be represented as follows [40]:
this, the airflow patterns, air velocity, and pressure distribution in
the computational domain are determined. Therefore, the air ve- !
locity and air flow rate in each underground pipes, and the ACH of
v v v4
ðr4ui Þ ¼ G þ S4 (5)
the test room are ascertained. These simulations are conducted vxi vxj vxj
separately for each wind velocity profile in all geometric configu-
in which 4 is a scalar that can be k or ε.
rations differing in domed roof aperture size, number, length, and
In order to connect the solution parameters at the wall adjacent
diameter of underground pipes. In the second part, the heat
nodes and the dependent variables on the wall, the standard wall
transfer analysis of the underground pipe with its surrounding soil
function method proposed by Launder, and Spalding is adopted. It
is made through a novel 1-D transient thermodynamic model.
is a default option in Fluent software and is as follows [40]:
Having the air flow rate in the underground pipes from the CFD
simulation, a MATLAB code is developed based on the proposed
lnð9:793 y* Þ
thermodynamic model in the second step which can calculate air u* ¼ (6)
0:42
temperature at the outlet of the underground pipes. Applying
different boundary conditions to this computer program, the im- in which
pacts of different environmental conditions, encompassing
ambient air temperature and relative humidity and undisturbed r Cm 1=4 kP 1=2 yP
y* ¼ (7)
soil temperature on the thermal performance of EAHE, will be m
evaluated. Table 1 represents the range of geometrical parameters
The logarithmic law is valid for the average velocity when
of underground pipes in the present study for the thermal
30 < y* < 300. Providing that y* > 11:25, this law is adopted in
modeling of EAHE. These geometrical parameters were selected on
Fluent software. Otherwise, the laminar stress-strain correlation
the basis of previous works. Concerning the thermal performance
of the EAHE, economic efficiency, and space limitation, it is rec- (i.e. u* ¼ y* ) is employed.
ommended that the length of underground tubes be in the range of In the present study, the wind velocity profile near the ground is
20 me50 m [20,38]. Therefore, three different lengths encom- applied as the inlet velocity boundary condition. This profile is
passing 25, 35, and 45 m are considered for the underground pipe more accurate than the uniform velocity profile and leads to more
in the present study. Furthermore, the typical diameter range for realistic results. The wind velocity profile near the ground surface
EAHEs varies from 0.2 m to 1 m [39]. Hence, this range is considered can be defined as follows [7]:
for the diameter of buried pipes in the present study. It is note-  0:28
worthy that, in the case of the EAHE with multi-tubes, a horizontal Vh h
¼ (8)
distance of 2 m is selected to ensure that the performance of pipes VH H
is not affected by one another [39].
Considering the cooling demand of the room (Qroom), room where Vh is the velocity at the height of h from the earth surface. VH
average temperature (Tavg;room ) is calculated from the following is also the wind velocity at the top of the plane B0 of the compu-
equation: tational domain (as shown in Fig. 1). It should be noted that in
Synoptic weather stations, the wind velocity is measured at 10 m
 
Qroom  3600 above the Earth’s surface [41]. Therefore, in the present study, the
Tavg:;room ¼ TPc ðzend Þ þ (2)
ra Cp;a Vroom  ACH wind profile is defined so that Vh¼10 m is equal to a certain value.

where TPc(zend) is the air temperature at the outlet of the pipe and
Vroom is the volume of the test room. It should be noted that Qroom
for a specified building depends on ambient conditions (ambient
temperature and solar irradiance), building usage (number of
people, lighting, etc.) and building specifications. Therefore, in the
current study, in order to generalize the results, different values are
1271
3.2. Mathematical modeling of the EAHE
Due to the high thermal inertia of the earth, the temperature
fluctuations below the surface of the earth are less compared to the
surface, and after a certain depth, the temperature of the earth can
be considered constant [42]. Fig. 2 presents the mean annual
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
Fig. 2. The mean annual temperature variation in Tehran’s soil at different underground depth (W) over a year starting from May based on the one-harmonic model.
Fig. 3. Schematic of EAHE computational domain including underground pipe and its
surrounding soil.
temperature variation in Tehran over a year starting from May
based on the one-harmonic model introduced in the ASHRAE dis-
trict heating manual method [43]. According to Fig. 2, it is observed
that as the depth increases, the temperature difference between
the ground and the surface air temperature increases and the
temperature fluctuations decrease, so that at a depth of about 5 m,
the undisturbed soil temperature can be considered to be constant
and equal to the mean annual temperature in that area.
The underground pipe studied in the present study includes a
series of parallel and horizontal pipes buried at a certain distance
from each other below the surface of the earth. In order to inves-
tigate the effect of geometric and environmental parameters on the
1272
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
performance of the proposed system, the mathematical modeling
of EAHE is required. To simplify the heat transfer analysis of un-
derground pipe with its surrounding soil, the following assump-
tions are made in the present study:
1. The soil around the pipe is considered homogeneous with
constant thermophysical properties.
2. The variation of thermophysical properties of the air with
temperature and also relative humidity variation has been
neglected.
3. The airflow inside the underground pipe is assumed to be hy-
drodynamically and thermally fully developed considering that
the ratios of the length to the diameter of the examined pipes in
this study are greater than 10 [44].
4. The thickness of the formed film of the water on the pipe surface
is ignored because of its small size.
5. Radiation heat transfer is neglected due to low-temperature
difference.
6. The temperature of the earth’s surface is assumed to be equal to
the ambient air temperature.
7. The spacing of the underground pipe is assumed so that their
performances are not affected by one another.
8. The Lewis number (Le) is assumed as 1 in the present study.
When the ambient temperature is not too low (as the current
study), such an assumption does not impact the results.
Fig. 3 illustrates the schematic diagram of the computational
domain which includes EAHE and its surrounding soil. According to
Fig. 3, the computational domain is a set of parallel plates, which
contains a group of computational nodes whose central node rep-
resents a cross-section of the underground pipe, and the other
nodes denote the surrounding soil. To calculate the air temperature
inside the EAHE at each computational node, the amount of heat
transfer between the underground pipe and its surrounding soil on
the previous computational plate is calculated. In other words, the
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 4. Schematic of each plates of computational domain and the required boundary
conditions.

heat equation of the soil is solved 2-D; while the 1-D model is used Fig. 5. The cross section of the underground pipe and its surrounding soil.
to determine the air temperature inside the pipe.
Considering the mentioned assumptions, the 2-D heat equation
of the soil can be written as follows:

Tk pþ1 Tk p
vT Dt
¼ aV2 T (9) !
vt Tkþ1 pþ1 2Tk pþ1 þTk1 pþ1 Tkþm pþ1 2Tk pþ1 þTkm pþ1
¼a þ
in which, a is the thermal diffusivity coefficient of the soil. ðDxÞ2 ðDyÞ2
In the present study, a fully implicit Finite-Difference method is
(14)
used for solving the heat equation. Using the central difference
approximation, the space derivatives in Eq. (9) can be discretized as Considering Dx ¼ Dy, it can be written:
follows:

Tk pþ1  Tk p
v2 T Tiþ1;j  2Ti;j þ Ti1;j
¼ (10) Dt 
vx2 ðDxÞ2 a 
pþ1 pþ1 pþ1 pþ1 pþ1
¼ Tkm þ Tk1  4Tk þ Tkþ1 þ Tkþm
ðDxÞ2
(15)
v2 T Ti;jþ1  2Ti;j þ Ti;j1
¼ (11) where Tk p is the temperature of the k-th soil node at the p-th time
vy2 ðDyÞ2
point.
Now, combining Eqs. (9)e(11), and discretizing the time deriv- Fig. 4 demonstrates the schematic of each plate in the compu-
ative based on first order forward approximation, would result in: tational domain as well as the boundary conditions required for
solving Eq. (9). According to this figure, it is observed that the
temperature of the bottom boundary condition for soil (Tsu) is
considered constant. As mentioned, the reason is that after a depth
Ti;j pþ1 Ti;j p
of 5 m in the ground, according to Fig. 2, undisturbed soil tem-
Dt ! perature becomes constant, which equals to the mean annual
Tiþ1;j pþ1 2Ti;j pþ1 þTi1;j pþ1 Ti;jþ1 pþ1 2Ti;j pþ1 þTi;j1 pþ1 temperature of that area. The temperature of the upper boundary
¼a þ
ðDxÞ2 ðDyÞ2 condition for the soil is also considered constant and equal to the
(12) ambient air temperature (Tamb). Moreover, by moving away from
the center of any computational plate horizontally up to an
Using column-major technique, 2-D subscript of temperature adequate distance, isolation assumption becomes valid for vertical
can be written in 1-D as follows [45]: plates of the computational domain.
Using the aforementioned boundary conditions and Eq. (15), the
temperature of each computational node for the soil can be
k ¼ mðj  1Þ þ i (13) calculated at each time step. Then, for determining the temperature
of the pipe node at each cross-section (see Fig. 5), the calculation of
where in the above relation, m is the number of nodes in each line. the transferred heat from the air in the pipe to the surrounding soil
By applying k from Eq. (13) into Eq. (12), it would be obtained: can be written as follows:
1273
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Then, provided that TPc(z þ 1) is greater than the dew point

TSoil  Tair temperature obtained from Eq. (24), condensation would not occur
Qs ¼ (16)
Rtotal and the heat transfer between the soil and air can be calculated
from Eq. (21); however, if TPc(z þ 1) is less than dew point tem-
where Rtotal is the total thermal resistance, which is equal to: perature, the latent heat (Ql) must also be added to the calculated
Qs. In this case, the latent heat can be obtained from the following
Rtotal ¼ Rsoil þ Rtube þ Rair (17)
equation:
in which:
  Ql ¼ m_ cwf Hwv (27)
1 r þ dy
Rsoil ¼ ln 2 (18)
2pdzksoil r2 where Hwv is the specific enthalpy of water vapor. Considering a
linear function of temperature for Hwv, it could be written as follows
and
[47]:
 
1 r þd
Rtube ¼ ln 1 (19) Hwv ¼ Cp;w Tcwf þ Hfg (28)
2pdzktube r1
m_ cwf is also the condensed water mass flow rate and can be
and
calculated as follows [10]:
1
Rair ¼ (20a) m_ cwf ¼ m_ a dua (29)
2pdzha r1
ha and Nud are the convection heat transfer coefficient inside the and
pipe and Nusselt number, respectively, which are obtained as fol-  
lows [44]: m_ cwf ¼ hm f uaðTcwf Þ  ua Az (30)

Nud ka In Eq. (30), f is the wettability factor, which is assumed to be 0.1

ha ¼ (20b)
d in the present study considering PVC material for the pipes [48]. Az
is the inner surface of the pipe between two adjacent soil plates of z

3:66 Red < 2300 and z þ 1 and hm is the mass transfer coefficient calculated ac-
Nud ¼ (20c)
0:023Red 0:8 Pr0:3 Red  2300 cording to the following equation [44]:

By assuming dz ¼ Dz and dy ¼ Dy, and substituting Eqs. (17) to ha

(20) into (16), after simplification, it can be obtained: hm ¼ (31)
ra Cp;a Le2=3
 
2pDz Taverage  TPc ðzÞ
Qs ¼       (21) where Le is the Lewis number, which is defined as the ratio of
1
ksoil
ln r2 þr2Dy þ k1 ln r1rþ1 d þ r 1h thermal diffusivity coefficient to the mass diffusivity coefficient
 
soil 1 a

between water and air DaAB .

where TPc is the temperature of the pipe center node, and Taverage
Finally, considering condensation, the air temperature at each
represents the average temperature of the adjacent nodes which
section is obtained from the following equation:
can be calculated as follows:
Qs þ Ql
Taverage ¼ ðTPc1 þ TPcþ1 þ TPcþm þ TPcm Þ 4 (22) TPc ðz þ 1Þ ¼ TPc ðzÞ þ (32)
m_ a Cp;a
Finally, the outlet air temperature at each pipe section is ob-
The flowchart of the strategy for determining the air tempera-
tained using the following equation:
ture at the outlet of the EAHE is depicted in Fig. 6. The summary of
Qs the adopted method is as follows:
TPc ðz þ 1Þ ¼ TPc ðzÞ þ (23)
m_ a Cp;a
1 Determination of the soil temperature on all computational
in which Qs is calculated at z-th section. plates at the start of the system (Initial condition).
Once the air temperature at the (zþ1)-th computational plate is 2 At the first moment of entering the ambient air into the un-
calculated, the occurrence of condensation should be checked. To derground pipe, the temperature of the central node in the first
this end, the dew point temperature is obtained as [46]: computational plate is assumed to be equal to the ambient
 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  temperature. Then, the conduction heat transfer equation in the
Td ¼ 66:67 B  B2  178:968 (24) soil is solved in the first time step.
3 By determining the temperature of the nodes which are adja-
in which: cent to the central node, the heat transfer from the underground
  pipe to the surrounding soil is obtained in the first section of the
B ¼ 18:79  ln 105 Pwv (25) pipe in the first time step.
4 By substituting the calculated heat from the previous step and
where Pwv indicates partial steam pressure and can be obtained as the velocity of air passing through the underground pipe (i.e.
follows [46]: obtained from Fluent software) in Eq. (23) or (32), the air tem-
perature in the second computational plate and first time step
 
596:6 can be obtained.
Pwv ¼ 105 exp 18:79  0:0075T  (26) 5 With the continuation of the above process, the air temperature
T
at the outlet of the pipe, TPc(zend), is obtained in the first step.
1274
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
Fig. 6. The flowchart of the deployed strategy for determining the air temperature at the outlet of the EAHE.
6. By repeating the above steps at subsequent time steps, TPc(zend)
is determined at each moment.
4. Model validation
4.1. Validation of the chosen dimensions and mesh size of the
computational domain in Fluent
First, the computational domain of the problem is meshed using
the Gambit software, and then the airflow velocity in this domain is
determined by the use of ANSYS Fluent software. As shown in Fig. 7,
both structured and unstructured mesh types are used for meshing
the computational domain. The meshing around and within the
domed roof, inside the pipe and adjacent to the pipe entrance is
1275
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
unstructured, while by moving away from the domed roof and the
room, coarser and structured mesh type is utilized. Furthermore, to
enhance the accuracy, the mesh density near the walls is increased.
According to Fig. 1, the used boundary conditions are: “velocity
inlet” boundary condition for plate B’, “pressure outlet” boundary
condition for plate A’, “wall” boundary condition for the plate D’,
and “symmetry” boundary condition for the plates C’, E’ and F’. To
solve the governing equations, an implicit solver in Fluent software
is employed. In addition, SIMPLE algorithm is used to apply the
pressure-velocity coupling. The convergence criterion for the ve-
locity components at different directions, continuity, k and ε is
assumed 106. After simulations in Fluent software, the velocity
distribution in the computational domain is obtained.
For the sake of verifying the simulation performed in Fluent
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 7. Mesh design considered for the computational domain encompassing the test room and EAHE.

software, the effect of two parameters, including dimensions of the processing time requirements, 1400000 cells are chosen for the
computational domain and the number of mesh on ACH is inves- computational domain. It should be noted that the number of cells
tigated. Fig. 8 illustrates the variation of ACH with respect to wind is also dependent on the size of underground pipe; the mentioned
velocity, at an altitude of 10 m, in three different dimensions for the cell number is considered for a pipe with a length of 35 m and a
domain. It can be observed that changing the dimensions from diameter of 0.4 m.
80 m  25 m  25 me120 m  40 m  40 m would lead to
approximately 3% variation in ACH; while by increasing the di-
4.2. Mesh independency and validation of the adopted numerical
mensions to 180 m  60 m  60 m, merely 1.1% change is observed,
solution in EAHE modeling
indicating that the variation of ACH by further increase in dimen-
sion is negligible. Accordingly, the dimensions of
In order to select appropriate mesh size in numerical modeling
120 m  40 m  40 m are considered for the computational
of EAHE, a real set up of EAHE was constructed at University of
domain.
Guilan, and data acquisition was performed during spring and
Three different numbers of cells including 600000, 14000000
summer. The set-up included an underground PVC pipe with a
and 2500000 are considered in order to evaluate the mesh size
length of 60 m which was buried at a depth of 5 m. For blowing air
independency in the computational domain with dimensions of
in the buried pipe, a single-phase BEF-25/10T4S forward fan was
120 m  40 m  40 m. In Fig. 9, ACH variations are plotted against
used, which was able to provide the velocity of 6 m/s at the outlet of
wind velocity (at 10 m above the surface) for three different
the heat exchanger. To measure the temperature and relative hu-
number of cells. According to the results, with an increase in the
midity of the ambient air as well as the output of the EAHE, the
number of cells from 1400000 to 2500000, the variation of ACH is
H99-T-B thermometer sensor was used. Also, to measure the air
less than 1%. Consequently, in order to satisfy both accuracy and
velocity in the heat exchanger pipe, the AV30-T flow meter was
1276
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
Fig. 8. The variation of ACH with respect to wind velocity (at an altitude of 10 m) in
three different dimension sizes for the domain.
Fig. 9. The variation of ACH with respect to wind velocity (at an altitude of 10 m) in
three different number of mesh for the domain.
deployed. It is noteworthy that the utilized measurement equip-
ment had the capability to measure temperature, relative humidity
and air velocity with the accuracy of 0.1 C, 1% and 0.1 m/s,
respectively. Figs. 10 and 11 represent the execution of this set up.
To verify the mesh independency in EAHE modeling, several
different numbers of nodes were investigated. In Table 2, the
properties of such number of nodes are briefly presented. As it is
observed, both the number of nodes per plate and the distances of
plates from each other (DZ) affect the results. Hence, the error of
each case is compared with the experimental data (i.e.
Tamb ¼ 37:5  C and air velocity ¼ 2.4 m/s) and the case with the
acceptable error is selected. As shown in Table 2, two computa-
tional domains of 51  51 nodes with a distance of 0.1 m and
1277
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
Fig. 10. A view of the embedded channel for placing the PVC pipes.
61  61 nodes with a distance of 0.05 m provide good accuracy for
determining the temperature at the outlet of the EAHE. Therefore,
in order to fulfill both accuracy and processing time demands, the
computational domain with 51  51 nodes and a distance of 0.1 m
was selected.
After determining the appropriate meshing, numerical results
were compared with the experimental data for verifying EAHE
modeling under different ambient temperatures. The characteris-
tics of the studied experimental model and the error of the nu-
merical solution are presented in Tables 3 and 4, respectively.
Table 4 shows the error between the numerical solution and
empirical data in all cases, which may be originated from simpli-
fying assumptions in mathematical modeling of the underground
pipe. In other words, the main sources of error in EAHE modeling in
this study can be attributed to the following factors:
(1) 1-D modeling of the underground pipe (each pipe section is
considered as one node),
(2) Neglecting the changes in thermophysical properties of the
air with temperature variation over the pipe,
(3) The homogeneous assumption for thermophysical proper-
ties of the soil
(4) Neglecting the effects of entrance length on convection heat
transfer coefficient.
The maximum error of the adopted numerical model in pre-
dicting the outlet temperature is 4.78%, so, the accuracy of the
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 11. Placing the PVC pipes on the holders.

Table 2
Investigating the mesh independency in EAHE modeling when Tamb ¼ 37.5  C and air velocity is 2.4 m/s.

Number of nodes in each computational plate DZ (m) TPc (zend ) ( C) Error (%)

Numerical modeling Experimental data

31  31 0.6 27.86 27.2 2.43

41  41 0.3 27.71 27.2 1.88
51  51 0.1 27.61 27.2 1.51
61  61 0.05 27.59 27.2 1.43

numerical solution can be deduced.
Since in the data obtained from the experimental method, the
EAHE temperature was never lower than the dew point, the
condensation did not occur inside the pipe. Therefore, in order to
verify the accuracy of the developed code in predicting the
condensation phenomenon, the amount of condensed water was
compared with the experimental data of Gustafsoon and Lindblom
[49]. They examined the water condensation from moisture of air
by the solar system and the underground tube for agriculture and
drinking usages, experimentally. The operating conditions of this
reference and the comparison are provided in Tables 5 and 6,
respectively.
As is presented in Table 6, the maximum error of the present
model in the calculation of the produced water content is 3.6%.
Consequently, in the case of condensation, the proposed

Table 4
Table 3 Comparison between experimental data and outcomes of the adopted mathematical
Characteristics of the experimental set-up of EAHE in the present study. modeling in predicting the EAHE outlet temperature after 1 h operating duration
and under different ambient air temperature.
Parameter Value
Tamb ð CÞ TPc ðzend Þ( C) Error (%)
Pipe length, (m) 60
Burial depth, (m) 5 Numerical modeling Experimental data
Pipe diameter, (m) 0.16
20.5 18.19 18.6 2.19
Pipe thickness, (m) 0.012
21.0 18.47 18.9 2.29
Pipe thermal conductivity, (W= mK) 0.16
22.6 19.34 19.7 1.80
Soil thermal conductivity, (W= mK) 1.16
23.2 19.67 20.5 4.03
Soil thermal diffusivity, (m2 = s) 6.14  107
24.7 20.50 21.2 3.32
Air velocity, (m=s) 2.4 26.0 21.21 21.5 1.35
Air density, (kg=m3 ) 1.214 28.3 22.47 23.4 3.97
Air dynamic viscosity, (m2 = s) 178  107 30.9 23.90 25.1 4.78
Dry air specific heat capacity, (J= kgK) 1205 33.8 25.49 25.9 1.59
Air Prandtl number 0.65 37.5 27.61 27.2 1.51

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Table 5 room, which are obtained from solving the governing equations in
Characteristics of the experimental set-up in Ref. [49]. the computational domain, are plotted, respectively. It is noticed
Parameter Value that the air velocity inside the room is less than outside. Also, as
Tube length, (m) 80
shown in Fig. 12 for the velocity profile of the wind, the wind ve-
Burial depth, (m) 0.4 locity increases by moving away from the surface of the ground.
Tube diameter, (m) 0.11 To evaluate the effect of wind velocity on the performance of the
Tube thickness, (m) 0.002 system, in Fig. 14, the velocity values of 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.4 and
Tube thermal conductivity, (WmK) 0.33
12.8 m/s were examined for wind at a height of 10 m from the
Soil thermal conductivity, (WmK) 1.5
Air velocity, (ms) 5 earth’s surface. According to this figure, as the wind velocity in-
creases, ACH value goes up. It is related to the rise in the pressure
gradient between the inside and outside air of the domed-roof.
mathematical model still gains acceptable accuracy. It is worth to
mention that, the difference between the results of numerical
calculation and experimental data is due to the abovementioned
5.2. Effect of geometric parameters on the system performance
sources of error.

5.2.1. Effect of domed roof aperture diameter on ACH

5. Results and discussion
In this section, the effect of different effective parameters
including environmental conditions and geometric parameters on
the performance of the proposed system is investigated. Geometric
parameters include the domed roof aperture diameter (A), diam-
eter of EAHE pipe (d), length of EAHE pipe (L), and the number of
buried pipe of EAHE (n). The ambient temperature (Tamb), relative
humidity (RH), undisturbed soil temperature (Tsu) and wind ve-
locity are also considered as environmental parameters.
5.1. Effect of wind velocity on ACH
One of the most crucial factors which affect the performance of
the proposed system is the wind velocity around the test room. In
Figs. 12 and 13, air velocity contours for outside and inside the test
The effect of domed roof aperture diameter on the ACH has also
been depicted in Fig. 14. For this purpose, three values of 0.2, 0.4
and 0.6 m were considered for this parameter while the other
geometric parameters, including length and diameter of the EAHE
were assumed to be constant and equal to the respective values of
35 and 0.4 m. In addition, the acceptable range of ACH (range
3e20), which designates the design area in the figure, is drawn
with horizontal lines [50]. As shown in Fig. 14, the domed roof
aperture diameter has a direct relation with ACH. With increasing
the aperture diameter, the air pressure drop in the building de-
creases and the ACH increases subsequently. It is seen that by rising
aperture diameter from 0.2 to 0.4 m at a wind velocity of 12.8 m/s,
the ACH is increased up to 100%; however, by increasing the
aperture diameter from 0.4 to 0.6 m, only 37% increase was ach-
ieved. Therefore, in the following sections, a diameter of 0.4 m is
considered for the domed roof aperture.

Table 6
Comparison between the results of the experimental study [49] and the presented mathematical model in predicting the extent of condensed water.

Inlet air temperature ( C) Inlet air RH (%) Condensed water Error (%)
ðkg=hÞ

Presented numerical model Experimental data [49]

45 100 6.48 6.63 2.3

50 100 8.53 8.8 3.6
55 100 11.3 11.62 2.8

Fig. 12. Air velocity contours around and outside the test room (V10 ¼ 3:2 m=s , A ¼ 0:4 m , n ¼ 1, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 13. Air velocity contours inside the test room (V10 ¼ 3:2 m=s , A ¼ 0:4 m , n ¼ 1, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

Fig. 14. Effects of wind velocity and the domed roof aperture diameter (A) on ACH (n ¼ 1, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
Fig. 15. Effect of the diameter of EAHE pipe (d) on ACH in two different wind velocity (A ¼ 0:4 m , n ¼ 1, L ¼ 35 m).
Fig. 16a. Effect of pipe length (L) on Troom after an operational duration of 1-h and in
various wind velocities for pipe diameter of 0:4m ( Tamb ¼ 30 C, RHamb ¼ 40%, Tsu ¼
14 C, Qroom ¼ 500 W, A ¼ 0:4 m, n ¼ 1).
5.2.2. Effect of the diameter of EAHE pipe on ACH
Fig. 15 demonstrates the impact of the diameter of EAHE pipe (d)
on the ACH at the wind velocities of 1.6 and 3.2 m/s. As shown in the
provided figure, with an increase in diameter up to 0.6 m, a sharp
increase is observed in ACH trend; however, by a further increase in
diameter, ACH variation is not significant and less than 20%. This
result can be explained by the fact that as the diameter of
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Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
Fig. 16b. Effect of pipe length (L) on Troom after an operational duration of 1-h and in
various wind velocities for pipe diameter of 0:6m ( Tamb ¼ 30 C, RHamb ¼ 40%, Tsu ¼
14 C, Qroom ¼ 500 W, A ¼ 0:4 m, n ¼ 1).
underground pipe increases, the pressure drop in the pipe de-
creases. Since the airflow entering the underground pipe is always
atmospheric, the decrease in the pressure drop in the pipe in-
creases the pressure at the pipe outlet, which is corresponded to an
increase in the inlet airflow velocity to the room and thus, rise in
ACH would occur. After the diameter of 0.6 m, the amount of this
pressure drop decreases so that the variation of the diameter
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
Table 7
The effect of variations of wind velocity on TPc ðzend Þ and ACH ( Tamb ¼ 30  C,
RHamb ¼ 40 %, Tsu ¼ 14  C, Qroom ¼ 500 W, A ¼ 0:4 m, n ¼ 1, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).
Wind velocity TPc ðzend Þ
ðm= sÞ ð CÞ
0.8 21.65
1.6 22.94
3.2 24.66
6.4 25.47
Fig. 17. Variation of the room average temperature with the change in wind velocity
for two different diameter of 0.4 m and 0.6 m after 1-h operation of the system ( Tamb ¼
30 C, RHamb ¼ 40%, Tsu ¼ 14 C, Qroom ¼ 500 W, A ¼ 0:4 m, n ¼ 1, L ¼ 35 m).
becomes ineffective on ACH, and therefore, the ACH reaches its
maximum.
5.2.3. Effect of the length of EAHE pipe on room average
temperature
One of the other vital parameters impacting the performance of
the introduced system is the length of EAHE pipe (L). Three
different lengths encompassing 25, 35 and 45 m are considered for
the underground pipe in the present study. It should be noted that,
since the pipe length affects the outlet temperature of EAHE and
ACH (due to change in the pressure at the pipe outlet), with regards
to Eq. (2), it has an impact on the room average temperature (Troom).
Hence, evaluating Troom is an appropriate criterion for determining
the EAHE pipe length. For this purpose, in Fig. 16a and b, the impact
of pipe length on Troom after an hour operational duration and in
different wind velocities are illustrated for pipe diameters of 0.4 m
and 0.6 m, respectively. It can be realized that in both of the
examined diameters, for each wind velocity, any increase in the
length of the pipe would result in a decrease in the room average
temperature. Therefore, for both of the studied diameters, the
minimum room average temperature is obtained through the uti-
lization of an underground pipe with a length of 45 m. Moreover, as
it is evident, the room average temperature decreases significantly
with increasing the wind velocity from 0.8 to 3 m/s. However, by
further increase in the wind velocity inclination of the temperature
curve reduces. To explain this trend, the values of TPc(zend) and ACH
at various wind velocities are presented in Table 7, for a heat
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
exchanger with a length of 35 m and a diameter of 0.4 m. According
to this table, as wind speed increases, TPc(zend) and ACH value rise.
Therefore, the first term in the right-hand side of Eq. (2), TPc(zend),
ACH increases and the second term (r CQP VroomACH) decreases. Up to the wind
ð1=hÞ
velocity of 3 m/s, the reduction of the second term is more domi-
0.99
nant on the average temperature of the room compared to the in-
2.07
4.36 crease of the first term; this causes a remarkable reduction in the
8.43 room temperature. However, after the wind velocity of 3 m/s, the
effect of these two terms become equal, and consequently, the
room average temperature variation would be insignificant.
5.2.4. Effect of the diameter of EAHE pipe on room average
temperature
Another important geometric parameter affecting the perfor-
mance of the proposed system is the diameter of the EAHE. Fig. 17
illustrates the variation of the room temperature with the change in
wind velocity for two different diameters of 0.4 m and 0.6 m after
1-h operation of the system. According to this figure, at wind ve-
locities of less than 3 m/s, the diameter of 0.6 m has better thermal
performance; while for higher wind velocity, no significant differ-
ence is observed between two diameters. The reason is that in
general, with the increase in the diameter of the underground pipe,
the inlet airflow speed to the pipe also increases. An increase in the
velocity of the fluid inside the pipe means its less available time for
heat transfer with the surrounding soil and, consequently, the first
term in the right-hand side of Eq. (2)) would be increased. On the
other hand, with increasing diameter, the pressure drop in pipe
decreases and thus ACH increases. As the ACH increases, the second
term in the right-hand side of Eq. (2) decreases. Considering that at
wind velocities of less than 3 m/s, the effect of reduction in the
second term with increasing wind velocity is more dominant than
the increase of the first term. Therefore, in this interval of the wind
velocity, the use of EAHE with a diameter of 0.6 m provides better
thermal performance. However, at wind velocities of more than
3 m/s, due to the fact that the effect of increasing ACH and reducing
the outlet temperature of the EAHE on the average temperature of
the room is almost the same, the thermal performance of the sys-
tem changes slightly with the change in the diameter of the EAHE.
5.2.5. Effect of number of buried pipes of EAHE on ACH
The number of buried pipes (n) is also a deterministic parameter
in the performance of the system. In Fig. 18, the effect of increasing
the number of EAHE pipes on ACH is plotted for different wind
velocities. As it is evident, when the number of pipes is less than 3,
increasing the number of pipes increases ACH. However, by further
increase in the number of pipes, no significant change is observed
in ACH trend. This phenomenon can be justified by the fact that
increasing the number of pipes, decreases the air velocity of each
pipe as well as pressure drop. On the other hand, the length is
increased and, consequently, an increase in the pressure drop
would be resulted. When the number of pipes is less than 3, the
positive effect of increasing the number of pipes overcomes its
negative effect, which will result in a lower total pressure drop and
an increase in ACH. However, by further increase in the number of
pipes, the negative effect of increasing the length would be in
balance with the positive effect of reducing the air speed in pipes,
and thus the ACH remains constant.
5.3. Effect of number of underground pipes and environmental
parameters on room average temperature
In this section, the effect of environmental parameters (tem-
perature and relative humidity of the ambient air, undisturbed soil
temperature, room cooling demand) and the number of
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Fig. 18. Effect of number of EAHE pipes (n) on ACH for various wind velocities (A ¼ 0:4 m , L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m ).

Table 8 underground pipes on room average temperature are discussed.

Environmental conditions and number of underground For evaluating the impact of environmental parameters on the
pipes considered in the present study.
thermal performance of the system, first, the values of the domed
Parameter Values roof aperture diameter, length and diameter of buried pipes should
Tamb , ( C) 30,35 be determined. According to the results of the previous sections,
RHamb , (%) 10,40,70,100 the domed roof aperture diameter, and pipe diameter of EAHE are
Tsu , ( C) 14,16,18 considered to be 0.4 m. In order to select the length of the heat
n 1,2,3
exchanger’s pipe, it is referred to Fig. 16a, and it can be observed
Qroom , (W) 0,500,1000,1500

Table 9a
Effects of ambient conditions and number of EAHE pipes on the average room temperature (Tamb ¼ 30  C, Tsu ¼ 14  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom n¼1 n¼2 n¼3

(%) (W) TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom
( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C)
10 0 24.66 13.66 0 24.66 24.30 13.96 0 24.30 24.04 14.19 0 24.04
500 29.76 27.95 27.22
1000 34.86 31.60 30.41
1500 39.97 35.25 33.59
40 0 24.66 54.66 0 24.66 24.30 55.85 0 24.30 24.04 56.76 0 24.04
500 29.76 27.95 27.22
1000 34.86 31.60 30.41
1500 39.97 35.25 33.59
70 0 24.66 65.65 0 24.66 24.30 97.75 0 24.30 24.04 99.33 0 24.04
500 29.76 27.95 27.22
1000 34.86 31.60 30.41
1500 39.97 35.25 33.59
100 0 24.68 100 0.26 24.68 24.32 100 0.20 24.32 24.06 100 0.16 24.06
500 29.78 27.97 27.24
1000 34.88 31.62 30.43
1500 39.99 35.27 33.61

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Table 9b
Effects of ambient conditions and number of EAHE pipes on the average room temperature (Tamb ¼ 35  C, Tsu ¼ 14  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom n¼1 n¼2 n¼3

(%) (W) TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom
( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C)
10 0 27.71 15.13 0 27.71 27.22 15.57 0 27.22 26.85 15.91 0 26.85
500 32.81 30.87 30.03
1000 37.91 34.52 33.22
1500 43.02 38.17 36.40
40 0 27.71 60.5 0 27.71 27.22 62.27 0 27.22 26.85 63.62 0 26.85
500 32.81 30.87 30.03
1000 37.91 34.52 33.22
1500 43.02 38.17 36.40
70 0 27.71 100 0.02 27.71 27.22 100 0.03 27.22 26.86 100 0.03 26.86
500 32.81 30.87 30.04
1000 37.91 34.52 33.23
1500 43.02 38.17 36.41
100 0 27.74 100 0.49 27.74 27.25 100 0.37 27.25 26.88 100 0.31 26.88
500 32.84 30.90 30.06
1000 37.94 34.53 33.25
1500 43.05 38.20 36.43

Table 10a
Effects of ambient conditions and number of EAHE pipes on the average room temperature (Tamb ¼ 30  C, Tsu ¼ 16  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom n¼1 n¼2 n¼3

(%) (W) TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom
( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C)
10 0 25.08 13.3 0 25.08 24.74 13.6 0 24.74 24.49 13.8 0 24.49
500 30.18 28.39 27.67
1000 35.28 32.04 30.86
1500 40.39 35.69 34.04
40 0 25.08 53.3 0 25.08 24.74 54.4 0 24.74 24.49 55.2 0 24.49
500 30.18 28.39 27.67
1000 35.28 32.04 30.86
1500 40.39 35.69 34.04
70 0 25.08 93.3 0 25.08 24.74 95.2 0 24.74 24.49 96.6 0 24.49
500 30.18 28.39 27.67
1000 35.28 32.04 30.86
1500 40.39 35.69 34.04
100 0 25.09 100 0.25 25.09 24.75 100 0.19 24.75 24.51 100 0.16 24.51
500 30.19 28.40 27.69
1000 35.29 32.05 30.88
1500 40.40 35.70 34.06

Table 10b
Effects of ambient conditions and number of EAHE pipes on the average room temperature (Tamb ¼ 35  C, Tsu ¼ 16  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom n¼1 n¼2 n¼3

(%) (W) TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom
( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C)
10 0 28.37 14.56 0 28.37 27.92 14.94 0 27.92 27.59 14.96 0 27.59
500 33.47 31.57 30.77
1000 38.57 35.22 33.96
1500 43.68 38.87 37.14
40 0 28.37 58.23 0 28.37 27.92 59.77 0 27.92 27.59 60.94 0 27.59
500 33.47 31.57 30.77
1000 38.57 35.22 33.96
1500 43.68 38.87 37.14
70 0 28.37 100 0.02 28.37 27.92 100 0.03 27.92 27.60 100 0.04 27.60
500 33.47 31.57 30.78
1000 38.57 35.22 33.97
1500 43.68 38.87 37.15
100 0 28.40 100 0.44 28.40 27.95 100 0.33 27.95 27.61 100 0.28 27.61
500 33.50 31.60 30.79
1000 38.60 35.25 33.98
1500 43.71 38.90 37.16

that by increasing the pipe length from 25 m to 35 m, the minimum change from 35 m to 45 m. The reason is that the temperature
and maximum temperature reductions are 1.03  C and 1.41  C, difference between the air and soil is high at the entrance of the
respectively, while these values are 0.17  Ce1.17  C for the length pipe, but as the airflow passes through the pipe, this temperature

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Table 11a
Effects of ambient conditions and number of EAHE pipes on the average room temperature (Tamb ¼ 30  C, Tsu ¼ 18 C, A ¼ 0:4 m, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom n¼1 n¼2 n¼3

(%) (W) TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom
( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C)
10 0 25.68 12.87 0 25.68 25.38 13.09 0 25.38 25.17 13.26 0 25.17
500 30.78 29.03 28.35
1000 35.88 32.68 31.54
1500 40.99 36.33 34.72
40 0 25.68 51.46 0 25.68 25.38 52.37 0 25.38 25.17 53.04 0 25.17
500 30.78 29.03 28.35
1000 35.88 32.68 31.54
1500 40.99 36.33 34.72
70 0 25.68 90.06 0 25.68 25.38 91.64 0 25.38 25.17 92.83 0 25.17
500 30.78 29.03 28.35
1000 35.88 32.68 31.54
1500 40.99 36.33 34.72
100 0 25.69 100 0.23 25.69 25.40 100 0.18 25.40 25.18 100 0.15 25.18
500 30.79 29.05 28.36
1000 35.89 32.70 31.55
1500 41.00 36.35 34.73

Table 11b
Effects of ambient conditions and number of EAHE pipes on the average room temperature (Tamb ¼ 35  C, Tsu ¼ 18  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom n¼1 n¼2 n¼3

(%) (W) TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom
( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C)
10 0 29.03 14.01 0 29.03 28.63 14.34 0 28.63 28.33 14.6 0 28.33
500 34.13 32.28 31.51
1000 39.23 35.93 34.70
1500 44.34 39.58 37.88
40 0 29.03 56.8 0 29.03 28.63 57.38 0 28.63 28.33 58.38 0 28.33
500 34.13 32.28 31.51
1000 39.23 35.93 34.70
1500 44.34 39.58 37.88
70 0 29.03 98.09 0 29.03 28.63 100 0.01 28.63 28.33 100 0.01 28.33
500 34.13 32.28 31.51
1000 39.23 35.93 34.70
1500 44.34 39.58 37.88
100 0 29.05 100 0.45 29.05 28.65 100 0.34 28.65 28.34 100 0.28 28.34
500 34.15 32.30 31.52
1000 39.25 35.95 34.71
1500 44.36 39.60 37.89

difference reduces, so the heat exchange between the air and the
soil at the end of the pipe becomes less. Therefore, due to this
reason and considering the advantage of smaller land use, although
the length of 45 m would result in less temperature for the room,
the length of 35 m is selected for calculations. Furthermore, it is
noteworthy that, in this section, the wind velocity is considered to
be a constant value equal to 3.2 m/s at an altitude of 10 m. For other
environmental parameters, different numerical values were
considered according to Table 8.
In Tables 9e11, the outlet temperature and relative humidity of
EAHE, the room average temperature and the amount of produced
water (when condensation occurs) for various environmental
conditions have been provided in accordance with Table 8. Ac-
cording to Tables 9e11, it can be concluded that as ambient air
temperature rises, the air temperature at the outlet of the EAHE
increases. However, the effect of relative humidity on the outlet
temperature of EAHE is always below 1%.
Two other studied parameters are the cooling demand of the
room and undisturbed soil temperature. The cooling demand is
directly related to the average room temperature according to Eq.
(2), i.e. it increases with temperature rises. Increasing the undis-
thereby the average room temperature would be raised.
Furthermore, as is presented in Tables 9e11, the amount of
condensed water in the relative humidity of less or equal to 70% is
negligible. By increasing the number of pipes, the condensation
rate in each pipe decreases due to the reduced air velocity in each
pipe. However, because the total airflow through all EAHE pipes has
increased, the total amount of produced water is increased. In
addition, the decrease in the airflow rate due to the increase in the
number of pipes also reduces the outlet temperature of the EAHE,
according to the more available time for exchanging heat with the
surrounding soil.
With the results presented in Tables 9e11, the number of pipes
required to provide thermal comfort using the proposed system in
different environmental conditions can be determined. According
Table 12
Effects of the variation of operating duration on the EAHE performance (V10 ¼
3:2 m=s, Tamb ¼ 30  C, Tsu ¼ 14  C, RHamb ¼ 40%, A ¼ 0:4 m, n ¼ 3, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼
0:4 m).
Operating duration (h) 1 12 24 168 720 2160

turbed soil temperature also affects the distribution of soil tem- EAHE outlet temperature (TPc ðzend Þ) 24.0 24.9 25.1 26.4 26.7 26.7
perature and causes the temperature of the surrounding soil to rise, ( C)
Maximum allowable value of Qroom (W) 1099 957 927 722 675 675
which would increase the outlet temperature of the EAHE and

1285
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
to ISO 7730, the acceptable temperature of a room is between 23  C
and 26  C. Therefore, as is evident in the supplied tables, the pro-
posed system can meet thermal comfort conditions for the test
room with utilizing one underground pipe when Tamb ¼ 30  C,
Tsu  18  C and Qroom ¼ 0 W (which is an ideal state). Nevertheless,
in more realistic conditions, when Qroom  0 W, the system loses its
efficiency for providing thermal comfort conditions of ISO 7730.
Moreover, according to ATCS, the maximum acceptable tem-
perature of the room when the ambient temperature is 30  C and
35  C are approximately 31  C and 32  C in accordance with Eq. (1),
respectively. Therefore, as is presented in Tables 9e11, this inte-
grated system can meet thermal comfort conditions for the test
room with the maximum cooling demand of about 1000 W with
three pipes, when Tamb ¼ 30  C and Tsu ¼ 14  C. With an increase
in Tsu from 14  C to 16  C and 18  C, the proposed system can
provide thermal comfort conditions for cooling loads less than
approximately 500 W, with using 2 and 3 pipes, respectively. In
addition, when Tamb ¼ 35  C, thermal comfort conditions can also
be achieved for maximum cooling demand of roughly 500 W. In
this case, for Tsu  16  C, 2 pipes and for Tsu ¼ 18  C, 3 pipes are
required.
It should be noted that since the modeling of the EAHE in the
current study is transient, in this section, the operating duration of
the system is considered to be 1 h. The evaluation of the time effect
on the system performance has been carried out in Section (5e4).
5.4. Effect of operating duration on thermal performance of the
system
In the previous sections, the operating duration of the system
was considered to be 1 h for all cases. In this section, the impact of
operating time on the air temperature at the outlet of the EAHE and
the maximum allowable cooling demand for providing ATCS con-
ditions is investigated. The importance of this issue is due to the
effect of heat transfer between the underground pipe and its sur-
rounding soil on the temperature distribution of the soil over time,
which reduces the efficiency of the system until it reaches a stable
state.
Table 12 shows the effect of the operating duration on the air
temperature at the outlet of EAHE and the maximum acceptable
cooling demand. It should be noted that in this section, the air
temperature at the inlet of the pipe is considered to be constant,
and its hourly variations are ignored. According to Table 12, in
which the outlet temperature after 1, 12, 24, 168, 720 and 2160 h is
presented, it is seen that the outlet air temperature rises over time.
This increase is 3.8% after 12 h, 4.6% after 24 h, and 11.3% after 720 h
(one month); after 720 h, the system reaches its steady-state con-
dition. Moreover, the amount of maximum reduction in the cooling
demand of the test room during the continuous operation of the
system is provided in Table 12. It can be observed that as the
operation duration of the system goes up, the maximum cooling
demand under which thermal comfort conditions could be met
reduces.
5.5. Analysis of energy saving
In order to calculate the amount of energy saving of the system,
it is assumed that the system is utilized only for 12 h a day. To this
end, the variations in ambient air temperature of Tehran, Iran,
based on a recent 5-year averaged data [51], and the air tempera-
ture at the outlet of the EAHE (i.e., n ¼ 3, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0.4 m) on July
15, August 15, and September 15, are illustrated in Fig. 19 (a), (b),
and (c), respectively. Considering Fig. 19 (a)e(c), the maximum
cooling load, under which the proposed natural system could meet
the thermal comfort conditions for the test room, is calculated
1286
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
(Fig. 20 (a) to (c)). The introduced system in the present study does
not consume electrical energy. However, to provide a similar
cooling load using conventional cooling systems (i.e., split inverter
air conditioner and evaporative cooler) electrical energy is needed.
Fig. 20 (a)e(c) demonstrate the electric energy consumption per
hour of a split inverter air conditioner, with an energy efficiency
ratio (EER) of 3.29 [52] in Tehran between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the
middle days of three summer months. According to Fig. 20 (a)e(c),
the split’s energy consumption per hour varies between 0.25 kW h
and 0.36 kW h during summer months. As can be observed in
Fig. 21, the application of the integrated system of EAHE and domed
roof instead of the mentioned split inverter air conditioner to
provide a similar cooling load for 12 h can reduce the electrical
energy consumption by 4.16 kW, 3.64 kW, and 4.26 kW on July 15,
August 15, and September 15, respectively. Moreover, using the
evaporative air cooler, which is more prevalent in hot and dry cli-
mates, to provide thermal comfort conditions in this room and in
the same conditions, would result in the electric energy con-
sumption of 0.200 kW h [53].
5.6. Environmental analysis
One of the most important environmental issues that threatens
human life and other species is global warming. The production of
carbon dioxide by energy supplying systems is one of the main
factors affecting global warming. Consequently, immediate action
is needed to reduce CO2 emission. Considering that the proposed
system does not require electricity consumption, it can reduce CO2
emission. The reduction of CO2 emission using an EAHE system can
be calculated using the following equation [54]:
mtcer ¼ mCO2  Eannual  N (33)
where mtcer is the total quality of CO2 emission reduction during its
lifecycle in terms of kg. mCO2 is the emission conversion factor,
which is considered mCO2 ¼ 0:968 kg=kW h in the present study
[55]. Eannual is the total annual energy saving of the system
compared to conventional systems (split inverter air conditioner
and evaporative air cooler) in terms of kW h/yr. N is the economic
lifespan of the system, which can be considered to be 20 years [30].
It is assumed that the natural cooling system introduced in the
current study is to be used only in the summer months and 12 h
each day (i.e., from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.). Also, the cooling load of each
month’s 15th day is considered for all days of that month. Based on
these assumptions, the Eannual compared to split inverter air
conditioner and evaporative air cooler with the same capacity are
373.86 kW h/yr and 223.20 kW h/yr, respectively. Therefore, ac-
cording to Eq. (33), the mtcer of the used system in its lifecycle is
7237.93 kg in comparison with the split air conditioner and
4321.15 kg in comparison with the evaporative air cooler. In other
words, through the utilization of the proposed system, the total
annual quality of CO2 emission reduction is 361.89 kg and 216.06 kg
compared to the mentioned conventional systems with similar
capacity, respectively.
5.7. Utilization of the introduced system in a two-story building
In this section, using the domed roof for the natural ventilation
of a two-story building is investigated in order to assess the prac-
tical and modern application of the domed roof. Fig. 22 presents the
schematic diagram of a two-story building with a domed roof. As
can be seen, the building has two rooms with the same dimensions
of 4 m  4 m  3.125 m. It should be noted that as section 2, the
domed roof radius is also considered 1.95 m.
In Fig. 23, the diagram of ACH variation in terms of wind velocity
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 19. The variations in Tehran ambient temperature and EAHE outlet temperature between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on (a) July 15, (b) August 15, and (c) September 15.

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 20. The variations in maximum allowable Qroom , and the energy consumption of the split inverter air conditioner inTehran between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on (a) July 15, (b) August
15, and (c) September 15.
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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Fig. 21. The total electric energy consumption of the split inverter air conditioner in Tehran used instead of the proposed natural system to provide a similar cooling load during a
12-h operational duration, and in the 15th day of three hot months including July, August, and September.

Fig. 22. Schematic diagram of the utilization of the proposed system for a two-story building.

for both floors has been depicted. As can be seen, the ACH of the
second floor is approximately twice as much as that of the first floor
for each wind velocity. This is due to the fact that at the vent of the
second floor, the outlet airflows of two floors are mixed and flows
towards the outlet of the domed roof. Therefore, at the outlet of the
second floor, the flow rate is higher and consequently, the air
pressure at the outlet of the second floor is lower than that of the
first floor. As a result, according to the higher pressure difference
between the air entering the building and exiting the second floor
compared to the first floor, the ACH value is higher for the second
floor. It is known that in order to equalize the ACH in two floors, the
pressure drop of the second floor must be increased, which is
possible by reducing the outlet area of the second floor. For this
purpose, in Table 13, the effect of the ratio of first-floor outlet vent
area to that of the second floor (G ¼ A2 =A1 ) on the ACH has been
provided at the wind velocity of 3.2 m/s. According to the obtained
results, when the ratio is G ¼ 10 4 , the ACH becomes approximately
equal in both floors. The velocity contours for both floors of this
case are demonstrated in Fig. 24.
In Tables 14ae14d, the effect of environmental parameters on
the performance of the system for the ventilation of the two-story
building for a constant wind velocity of 3.2 m/s and G ¼ 104 has been
provided. As can be observed, the room temperature in the second
floor (Troom2 ) is always higher in comparison with the first floor
(Troom1 ), which is due to the slightly higher value of ACH in the first
floor. Moreover, the supplied tables indicate that the proposed

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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
Fig. 23. Effect of wind velocity on ACH of each floor in the two-story building (A ¼ 0:4 m, G ¼ 1, n ¼ 2, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).
Table 13
Effects of the ratio of the first floor outlet area to that of second floor (G) on the ACH of each floor (V10 ¼ 3:2 m=s , A ¼ 0:4 m, n ¼ 2, L ¼ 35 m ,
d ¼ 0:4 m).
Ratio of the two floors outlet areas
G ¼ 1 3.187
G ¼ 10=8
G ¼ 10=6
G ¼ 10=4
system can provide thermal comfort conditions, according to ATCS
standard, for the two-story building with the maximum cooling
demand of about 600W (i.e. 300 W for each floor), when
Tamb  35  C and Tsu  18  C.
6. Conclusions
In this study, cooling and natural ventilation of a building with a
domed roof using EAHE were studied numerically. The effect of
different geometric parameters as well as various ambient condi-
tions on the performance of the system was investigated. In the
following, the impact of operating duration on the thermal per-
formance of the system was assessed. Moreover, the proposed
system was compared with conventional domestic cooling equip-
ment in terms of energy and environmental issues. Also, the
application of the suggested system in a two-story building was
examined. The final conclusions can be listed as follows:
 A comparison of numerical modeling provided for EAHE with
data from experiments showed the capability of the adopted
numerical model in predicting the behavior of EAHE with a
maximum error of 4.78%.
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293
ACH of the first floor ACH of the second floor
ð1=hÞ ð1=hÞ
6.267
3.567 6.154
4.056 5.620
4.862 4.762
 It was observed that increasing the domed roof aperture
diameter from 0.2 to 0.4 m and from 0.4 m to 0.6 m, increases
ACH; for the wind velocity of 12.8 m/s, the increases are equal to
100% and 37%, respectively.
 At constant wind velocity, if the diameter of the EAHE is less
than 0.6 m, an increase in the diameter of EAHE leads to a sig-
nificant increase in ACH. However, in diameters larger than
0.6 m, the increase in diameter would not affect ACH consid-
erably and the change was less than 20%.
 When the number of buried pipes is less than 3, increasing the
number of pipes increases ACH. However, by a further rise in the
number of pipes, ACH does not change significantly.
 According to ISO 7730, when Tamb ¼ 30  C and TSu  18  C, the
proposed system can provide thermal comfort just in an ideal
condition (Qroom ¼ 0 W) by a single pipe with the length of 35 m
and diameter of 0.4 m.
 According to the ATCS standard, when Tamb ¼ 30  C and TSu ¼
14  C, the thermal comfort condition is met under maximum
cooling demands of about 1000 W with 3 pipes of 35 m length
and 0.4 m diameter. Furthermore, provided that Tamb ¼ 35  C,
Qroom  500 W and TSu  16  C, the use of 2 pipes with a length
of 35 m and a diameter of 0.4 m is suggested. However, if TSu ¼
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A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 1265e1293

Table 14b
Effects of the ambient conditions on the performance of the proposed system uti-
lized in the two-story building (Tamb ¼ 35  C, Tsu ¼ 14  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, G ¼ 10/4, n ¼
2, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom 1 Troom2

(%) (W) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C)

10 0 28.18 14.72 0 28.18 28.18
300 31.78 31.86
500 34.18 34.31
1000 40.18 40.44
40 0 28.18 58.89 0 28.18 28.18
300 31.78 31.86
500 34.18 34.31
1000 40.18 40.44
70 0 28.18 97.31 0 28.18 28.18
300 31.78 31.86
500 34.18 34.31
1000 40.18 40.44
100 0 28.21 100 0.71 28.21 28.21
300 31.81 31.89
500 34.21 34.34
1000 40.21 40.47

Table 14c
Effects of the ambient conditions on the performance of the proposed system uti-
Fig. 24. Air velocity contours around and inside the two-story building ( V10 ¼ 3:2 m= lized in the two-story building (Tamb ¼ 30  C, Tsu ¼ 18  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, G ¼ 10/4, n ¼
s A ¼ 0.4 m, G ¼ 10/4, n ¼ 2, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0.4 m). 2, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom 1 Troom2

Table 14a (%) (W) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C)
Effects of the ambient conditions on the performance of the proposed system uti- 10 0 26.11 12.54 0 26.11 26.11
lized in the two-story building (Tamb ¼ 30  C, Tsu ¼ 14  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, G ¼ 10/4, n ¼ 300 29.71 29.79
2, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m). 500 32.11 32.24
1000 38.11 38.37
RHamb Qroom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom1 Troom2
40 0 26.11 50.16 0 26.11 26.11
(%) (W) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C) 300 29.71 29.79
10 0 25.67 12.87 0 25.67 25.67 500 32.11 32.24
300 29.27 29.35 1000 38.11 38.37
500 31.67 31.80 70 0 26.11 87.77 0 26.11 26.11
1000 37.67 37.93 300 29.71 29.79
40 0 25.67 51.50 0 25.67 25.67 500 32.11 32.24
300 29.27 29.35 1000 38.11 38.37
500 31.67 31.80 100 0 26.13 100 0.34 26.13 26.13
1000 37.67 37.93 300 29.73 29.81
70 0 25.67 90.12 0 25.67 25.67 500 32.13 32.26
300 29.27 29.35 1000 38.13 38.39
500 31.67 31.80
1000 37.67 37.93
100 0 25.69 100 0.374 25.69 25.69
300 29.29 29.37 Table 14d
500 31.69 31.82 Effects of the ambient conditions on the performance of the proposed system uti-
1000 37.69 37.95 lized in the two-story building (Tamb ¼ 35  C, Tsu ¼ 18  C, A ¼ 0:4 m, G ¼ 10/4, n ¼
2, L ¼ 35 m, d ¼ 0:4 m).

RHamb Qroom TPc ðzend Þ RHout m_ W Troom 1 Troom2

18  C, it is recommended to use three pipes with a length of (%) (W) ( C) (%) (kg=h) ( C) ( C)
35 m and a diameter of 0.4 m. 10 0 28.80 13.48 0 28.80 28.80
 Assuming constant temperature for the ambient air, the outlet 300 32.40 32.48
500 34.80 34.93
air temperature of the heat exchanger increases over time and
1000 40.80 41.06
reaches a stable state after 720 h. The outlet air temperature is 40 0 28.80 53.92 0 28.80 28.80
increased by 4.6% after 24 h and 11.3% after 720 h. 300 32.40 32.48
 The electric energy consumption of the studied system was 500 34.80 34.93
1000 40.80 41.06
compared with the split inverter air conditioner and evaporative
70 0 28.80 94.36 0 28.80 28.80
air cooler of the same capacity. It was found that utilization of 300 32.40 32.48
the integrated passive system of domed roof and EAHE for 500 34.80 34.93
cooling the test room (i.e. from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in each day of the 1000 40.80 41.06
summer months), decreases the electric energy consumption 100 0 28.83 100 0.654 28.83 28.83
300 32.43 32.51
per hour up to 0.360 kW h and 0.200 kW h, respectively.
500 34.83 34.96
Moreover, Eannual is 373.86 kW h=yr and 223.20 kW h= yr, 1000 40.83 41.09
compared to the split inverter air conditioner and evaporative
air cooler with a similar capacity, respectively.

1291
A. Mirzazade Akbarpoor, A. Haghighi Poshtiri and F. Biglari
 The environmental analysis showed that using the introduced
system during the three months of the summer instead of split
air conditioner and evaporative air cooler with the same ca-
pacity, decreases the production of CO2 by 361.89 kg and
216.06 kg, respectively. In other words, in the 20-year life cycle
of the current system compared to the split air conditioner and
evaporative air cooler, mtcer is 7237.93 kg and 4321.15 kg,
respectively.
 The proposed system possesses the capability to satisfy thermal
comfort requirements, according to ATCS, for the two-story
building. In this condition, when Tamb  35  C, and TSu  18  C
, the system can provide thermal comfort under maximum
cooling demand of approximately 300 W for each floor, using 2
pipes with a length of 35 m and a diameter of 0.4 m.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Ali Mirzazade Akbarpoor: Methodology, Software, Validation,
Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - review &
editing. Amin Haghighi Poshtiri: Conceptualization, Methodology,
Supervision. Faraz Biglari: Methodology, Verification, Software,
Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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