Performance investigation of thermal and humidity environment of a curling arena for Olympic Winter Games

The indoor ice rink is a special kind of public building with high space and complex heat and humidity sources compared with general buildings. At the same time, the curling competition has particularly strict requirements on air parameters. The controlling of its thermal and humidity environment is facing great challenges. This research carries out on-site measurement of thermal and humidity environment in a curling arena for Olympic Winter Games, according to the real parameter requirements. The air conditioning area of the arena is divided into competition area, audience area and large space area, which are controlled by independent air conditioning systems respectively. The test results show that the low space cooling and dehumidification control method could reduce the temperature and humidity ratio near the ice surface of the competition area to 10.5 ℃ and 3.0 g/kg, while the ice surface remains clear, transparent and frost free. The temperature and humidity ratio at different heights in the vertical direction of the ice rink show obvious differences, achieving the zoning control goal of the competition area and the large space area. The air speed near the ice surface is less than 0.2 m/s, which would not interfere with the ice competition. The ice surface and the low temperature environment in the competition area hardly affect the audience comfort. It could be helpful to zoning control between the audience area and the competition area. The above researches provide references for the thermal environment operation scheme of the curling arena for the Olympic Winter Games. It also contributes to the accurate, energy saving and efficient guarantee of Olympic Winter curling games.