Ground temperature estimations using simplified analytical and semi-empirical approaches

In this work, subsurface ground temperature profiles are estimated by exploiting two different approaches. In the first one, an analytical model is examined which, considering a quasi steady state system, implements the superposition of annual and daily sinusoidal fluctuations. In the second one, semi-empirical models are developed based on the general formula of the preceding, by replacing the steady state soil temperature with easily obtained daily average temperatures. Various subsets of soil temperature were used for model development, in order to explore the possibility of minimizing data requirements. Comparison of observational data with model results reveals that the observational patterns of hourly soil temperature are fairly well approximated by both by the analytical and the semiempirical models. All models seem to capture the main characteristics of the annual course of soil temperature, with the results obtained from the semi-empirical models fluctuating in a much more realistic way than those of the analytical model. It is concluded that the proposed models may serve as useful tools for estimating and predicting soil temperatures to be used as practical reference in various environmental and energy applications. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.