Very limited information is available regarding the impact of heating and cooling processes on the geotechnical performance of piled foundations incorporating pipe loops for ground-source heat-pump systems (so-called energy piles). A pile-loading test that incorporated temperature cycles while under an extended period of maintained loading was undertaken to investigate the behaviour of an energy pile installed in London Clay. Testing was carried out over a period of about seven weeks, with conventional loading tests carried out either side of an extended loading test with thermal cycles. Using an optical fibre sensor system, and other more conventional instrumentation, temperature and strain profiles were observed in the test pile, an adjacent bore-hole, two of the anchor piles, and the heat sink pile. Details of load and movement at the pile head, of ambient air temperature and of the input/output temperature of fluid within the heating system were also recorded. Thermodynamic behaviour observed during the test supports the assumption that the pile acts as an infinitely long heat sink/source, and that the conductivity values used for the London Clay were reasonable. Forces mobilised in the pile shaft and the resistance mobilised at the pile/soil interface have been inferred from the test response, and the effects have been described using a simplified mechanism. Concrete stresses additional to those due to static loading are generated when the pile is heated, and the pile end-restraint conditions influence the effect; concrete stresses could potentially exceed the limiting values imposed by design codes. In this case there was a large margin between the pile ultimate shaft resistance and the shear stresses mobilised at the pile/soil interface during thermal cycling, and as a consequence, it is considered unlikely that the geotechnical capacity of the pile was affected significantly.

Energy piles are an effective and economic means of using geothermal energy resources for heating and cooling buildings, contributing to legislative requirements for renewable energy in new construction. While such piles have been used for around 25 years with no apparent detrimental effect, there is limited understanding of their thermo-mechanical behaviour. This paper synthesises the results from three published field studies and illustrates some of the engineering behaviour of such piles during heating and cooling. Simplified load transfer mechanisms for a single pile subjected to pure thermal loadings (i.e. without mechanical load) and combined thermo-mechanical loadings have been developed and are used to interpret the field data with regard to change in axial stress and shaft friction during heating and cooling. The effect of end restraint and ground conditions on the thermo-mechanical response of energy piles is discussed. Values of change in axial stress and mobilised shaft friction due to thermal effects that may be useful in the design of energy piles are presented.

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A descriptive framework for explaining the contribution of the foundation material and various levels of end-restraint, to the response of piles that are loaded thermomechanically, is presented. This simple, descriptive approach is then verified against the results of two field tests where piles were loaded thermomechanically, and while there is a degree of asymmetry in the real data as a consequence of the natural variation in the surrounding soils, the mechanisms of response seem to be captured. It is considered that this framework will be important as a means for understanding the results from physical and numerical modelling, and as a tool for explaining the mechanisms of response affecting energy foundations to engineers unfamiliar with the technology.