This paper is performed to analyze the performance of underground thermal storage in a solar-ground coupled heat pump system (SGCHPS) for residential building. Based on the experimental results, the system performance during a longer period is simulated by the unit modeling, and its parametric effects are discussed. The results show that the performance of underground thermal storage of SGCHPS depends strongly on the intensity of solar radiation and the matching between the water tank volume and the area of solar collectors. Compared with the solar radiation, the variations of the water tank temperature and the ground temperature rise lag behind and keep several peaks during the day time. For the case of Tianjin, the efficiency of underground thermal storage based on the total solar radiation and absorbed solar energy by the collectors can reach over 40% and 70%, respectively. It is suggested that the reasonable ratio between the tank volume and the area of solar collectors should be in the range of 20-40 L/m(2). (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.