WorldWide Drilling Resource

40 NOVEMBER 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Installation Provides Opportunity for Study Adapted from Information by the University of Illinois The Hydrosystems Laboratory addition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will include a geothermal system. This innovative method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions will incorporate conventional geothermal heat exchange loops in the foundation of a new “smart” suspension pedestrian bridge that will connect the Hydrosystems Laboratory to the Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory across Main Street in Urbana. Using the 50-foot-deep shafts already being drilled for the foundation, will reduce overall geothermal installation costs and provide for on-site research, as well as heat and cool the new instructional geotechnical laboratory in the building. “This project will provide an invaluable opportunity for the university to conduct a scalability study from lessons learned during the installation and an excellent basis for a fundamen- tal understanding of the operational response of the energy foundations,” said Dr. Tugce Baser, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE). During installation, Baser will equip the drilled shafts with thermistors (electrical resistors whose resistance is greatly reduced by heat) and strain gauges to measure axial and radial strains, as well as temperature profiles, within the foundation. The data set from the installation will enable the evaluation of operational thermomechanical properties, and the data collected from the project will be used as an input for analyses by stu- dents in the graduate level CEE 585 Deep Foundations course. Dr. Mohamed Attalla, executive director of Facilities & Services commented, “The outcomes of this project will be converted into design guidelines for future installation of energy foundations, which will significantly contribute to the sustainability of the campus.” Through the Illinois Climate Action Plan, the University of Illinois has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by no later than 2050, and geothermal energy is one of several strategies the university is exploring to reduce its environmental impact. Substantial completion of the entire renovation project is expected by next summer. GEO