RT Journal Article ID 11b2209667266523 A1 Brum, R. S. A1 Ramalho, J. V. A. A1 Rocha, Luiz Alberto O. A1 Isoldi, L. A. A1 dos Santos, E. D. T1 Transient Models to Analyze the Influence of the Air Velocity and Ducts Diameter on the Performance of Earth-Air Heat Exchangers JF International Journal of Fluid Mechanics Research JO FMR YR 2016 FD 2016-11-10 VO 43 IS 5-6 SP 503 OP 520 AB A potential sustainable option to improve thermal conditions in buildings is to use the Earth-air heat exchangers (EAHE), i. e., buried ducts where the air is blown to use the soil as a heat or cold sink. Despite being a simple and old technology, the interest for these devices has mainly increased in the last decades, accompanying global concerns with the use of renewable sources of energy and the advances in computer simulations. In countries like Brazil, the research about them is very limited, and their installations are just beginning. This paper aims to study the thermal performance of EAHE, under the variations of ducts diameter and the air velocity crossing them, adopting climatic and soil parameters found in experimental data from the south of Brazil. The thermal fields are computed using a validated complete model, and the results are used to find new sine-based models describing the thermal potential of EAHE, through which analytical analysis are made. From the study of the energy performance, significant improvement in thermal conditions can be obtained in the local summer at low energy consumption. PB Begell House LK https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/71cb29ca5b40f8f8,6d24c7576bcf94c4,11b2209667266523.html