EXPERIMENTAL MODELS OF UNDERGROUND TEMPERATURE FOR DECISION MAKING IN WINE CELLAR DESIGN

Buildings for wine storage and aging should assure constant performances of stability of indoor thermo-hygrometric conditions. Solutions characterized by low energy consumption can be achieved through the construction of underground wine cellars. They can benefit from the ground potential of temperature peaks dampening and thermal wave phase shifting. The design of such buildings requires a deep knowledge of underground temperature distributions in the surface and shallow layers. This implies a proper investigation of temperature profiles at various distances beside the cellar walls and below its floor. The objective of the study is to identify the spatial distributions and time trends of temperature in the ground layers involved in the interaction with underground buildings for wine production. Furthermore the study aims at providing analytical models for the underground temperature wave in surface layers, for the underground temperature wave below a building, and for the air temperature wave inside an underground wine cellar. The research has been developed by means of an experimental monitoring system which has been specially designed and installed in an Italian farm winery assumed as a pilot case. The analytical models proposed have been calibrated and validated against the experimental data of a three-year monitoring. The models allow to predict the temperature behaviour of underground cellar in different geographic locations, depending on soil characteristics. Beside the application of the models for the study case, two further scenarios of geographic location and four ones of soil features have been analysed and compared. Underground composed by lithotypes with high insulation potential and heat storage capacity appear to be the most appropriate for buried wine cellars.