Investigation of displacement and jet ventilation systems applied in an ice rink

Ice rinks are large space buildings with a unique required indoor environment and high energy consumption. On-site measurements are carried out in two professional indoor ice rinks to investigate the vertical temperature and humidity distributions with jet ventilation system and displacement ventilation system. Jet ventilation achieves a more uniform vertical distribution, while stratification is observed at the height of the baffle around the competition field with ground displacement ventilation. A verified CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model established based on the measured data is utilized to analyze the indoor thermal environment . It is demonstrated that the heat and moisture transferred from the view stand consumed 42% of the cooling capacity and 83% of the dehumidification capacity in the case of jet ventilation. A better decoupled zoning control effect is obtained with displacement ventilation, with the consumed cooling and dehumidification capacities 54% and 51% lower. The present study is valuable for optimizing the ventilation system and energy conservation in ice rinks. • Indoor thermal environment of two professional ice rinks is measured. • A CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model is established and verified. • Vertical temperature and humidity distributions with different ventilation systems are investigated. • Heat and moisture migration between the competition field and the view stand are analyzed. • Displacement ventilation achieves a higher energy utilization efficiency than jet ventilation.