GroMoPo Metadata for Baden-Wurttemberg thermal online model

With increasing numbers of groundwater heat pump systems, the potential for user conflicts is also increasing. As part of the approval process, it is therefore necessary to delineate the temperature plumes in groundwater emanating from those wells. Hence, in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, the thermal online model (TOM) was developed as an extension to the existing guidelines for open systems <= 45,000 kWh/a. TOM is a simplified, browser-based, numerical groundwater model. The objective of this study is to evaluate the temperature fields calculated using TOM with analytically calculated temperature fields and calculations using a calibrated numerical model. The results show that analytical calculation methods generally overestimate the extent of the temperature plumes in relation to the numerical models. For smaller and medium-sized systems (< 10 l/s), comparable results were calculated with TOM as with a calibrated numerical model. For larger systems (> 10 l/s), simulation with a calibrated numerical model is recommended.