The injection of heated water into a ground water stream of constant velocity is studied. The heated water is discharged through a fully penetrating injection well into a confined aquifer of constant thickness. For steady state conditions and under the assumption that heat conduction and dispersion in the aquifer and through the confining layers are negligible in comparison to the convective heat transport, it is shown that the flow and temperature field is dependent on the relative infiltration rate and on the relative buoyancy of well discharge. First results of a steady-state three-dimensional numerical model are given.
Infiltration wells discharging industrial cooling water or water from heat pumps give rise to temperature and hence density differences in the receiving groundwater. These produce buoyancy effects which may alter the outflow distribution considerably, cause vertical flow near the well and lead to temperature stratification. These effects have been investigated in a three-dimensional numerical flow and heattransport model and verified by laboratory tank experiments. The main results of the study are presented.
