Energy analysis in ice hockey arenas and analytical formula for the temperature profile in the ice pad with transient boundary conditions

Andrea Ferrantelli*, Klaus Viljanen, Jarek Kurnitski

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The energy efficiency of ice hockey arenas is a central concern for the administrations, as these buildings are well known to consume a large amount of energy. Since they are composite, complex systems, solutions to such a problem can be approached from many different areas, from managerial to technological to more strictly scientific. In this paper we consider heat transfer processes in an ice hockey hall, during operating conditions, with a bottom-up approach based upon on-site measurements. Detailed heat flux, relative humidity and temperature data for the ice pad and the indoor air are used for a heat balance calculation in the steady-state regime, which quantifies the impact of each single heat source. We also solve the heat conduction equation for the ice pad in transient regime, and obtain a general analytical formula for the temperature profile that is suitable to practical applications. When applied to the resurfacing process for validation, it shows good agreement with an analogous numerical solution. Since our formula is given with implicit initial condition and boundary conditions, it can be used not only in ice hockey halls, but in a large variety of engineering applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)499-522
Number of pages24
JournalAdvances in Building Energy Research
Volume15
Issue number4
Early online date14 May 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • analytical solutions
  • cooling
  • energy efficiency
  • ice rinks
  • theoretical models
  • Transient heat conduction

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