ABSTRACT
In any case, freezing of the piles is to be avoided by continuous monitoring and control systems to prevent thaw-induced defects.
The heat exchanger technology, although very successful in Switzerland (e.g. Zürich Airport) and world-wide (more than 300 installations in Europe), faces the lack of rational knowledge of the thermal effects on the behaviour of the foundations. In particular, no analytical, physical or numerical tools are yet available to consider the complex interactions between thermal storage and the mechanical behav-
iour of geostructures. This paper highlights some features of the behaviour of a heat exchanger pile. The thermal transfers in the pile and soil will not be quantified here.
