Utilizing a CNN-RNN machine learning approach for forecasting time-series outlet fluid temperature monitoring by long-term operation of BHEs system

The Borehole Heat Exchanger (BHE) plays a pivotal role in enhancing heat exchange efficiency within Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems. The accurate prediction of the BHE's outlet fluid temperature is crucial for optimizing GSHP performance, energy storage, and resource conservation. However, conventional machine learning methods encounter challenges in manual feature extraction, learning complex nonlinear relationships, and adapting to real-world scenarios. To address these limitations, this research proposes a crossbreed model integrating Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architectures to forecast long-term outlet fluid temperature in BHE systems. The model framework encompasses data preprocessing, utilizing refined data in the CNN module for temporal feature extraction, subsequently passed to the RNN module to capture sequential and temporal patterns from each dataset. Specifically, the advanced CNN-RNN architecture is designed to establish a comprehensive input-output mapping, leveraging essential input features such as inlet fluid, ambient air, and subsurface temperatures at varying depths (0, 10, and 20 m). Performance evaluation metrics, including R², RMSE, MAE, and AARE, are employed to compare and assess prediction accuracy across various models, including LSTM, CNN, and SimpleRNN. The obtained results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed model, achieving an RSME of 0.818, MAE of 0.642, AARE of 0.0305, and an R² value of 98.75 %. This surpasses the performance of traditional prediction models (LSTM, CNN, and SimpleRNN) by 3.01 %, 5.80 %, and 19.52 %, respectively. Notably, the remarkably low MAE of 0.642 exhibited by a CNN-RNN model underscores its capability to outperform traditional approaches, especially when handling large datasets. These findings emphasize the significance of the developed model in facilitating efficient operation, positioning it as a valuable tool for advancing the long-term sustainability of BHE systems.