Anagrafe della ricerca

Geothermal energy provides a massive, renewable, distributed and green energy potential. It offers the additional great advantage of being stable, with respect to atmospheric conditions, and cost-competitive. The geothermal energy at the near-surface is pervasively available and thus optimal for local harvesting and distribution at both single building and district scales. GEOREFIT project will focus on the thermal activation of geotechnical structures for heating and cooling of buildings or infrastructures. There are innovative possibilities of using conventional geotechnical structures as thermally “active” elements with a potentially great impact on the thermal energy sector in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals 7, 11 and 13. While activation of newly built geostructures has been investigated in the past, the GEOREFIT project will focus on retrofitting buildings and infrastructures. Infrastructures in Italy are undergoing extensive inspection and reparation to cope with the aging and deterioration of structural elements, such as bridge foundations, tunnel linings, etc. Also, buildings are currently being renovated extensively thanks to government incentives (so called ‘Superbonus 110%’). The reparation and renewal work constitute a unique opportunity for a major upgrade of the geostructure itself, which may include thermal activation. To explore these aspects and close persisting knowledge gaps that hinder wide practical application in Italy, the GEOREFIT project will use a three-pronged approach by addressing soil structure Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical interaction and energy performance by laboratory testing, in situ experimental testing and advanced numerical modelling. The project will benefit from already existing unique experimental sites. Together with available laboratory facilities and computational skills and software, these will enable to get insight on the relevant issues of different energy geostructures. Eventually, by investigating technological innovation in the field of new materials and embedded sensors for smart applications, the project will envisage the goal of enhancing the retrofitting process to obtain a technological leap of the structure/infrastructure which also includes its energy use.