Sports Hub Bowl Performance and Heat Stress Test
In year 2014, PowerQ had performed testing and commissioning services for a 7-storey stadium, 3-storey aquatic centre, 3-storey multi-purpose indoor arena and 2-storey water sports centre with commercial facilities and car park. The bowl has a capacity of 55,000 spectators. The stadium bowl is covered by movable roof and the Bowl area cooled with 116 units of chilled water AHU systems. Stadium is divided in 4 quadrants consisting of NS1 (NW), NS2 (SW), NS3 (SW) and NS4 (SE).
The conditioned cool air is supplied at low level from the slots below the spectators’ seats. The design supply air temperature is 23 deg C, as space temperature is required to be maintained < 29 deg C. The Stadium with roof constructed presents a semi-outdoor space, an indoor state with reflective surfaces and an outdoor environment with solar radiation.
The air temperature unaided as the indicator for heat or cold stress will not suffice to describe thermal comfort. The cooling system is served by AHU and Chillers, monitored and controlled by Building Management System.
A large number of parameters influence thermal comfort. BYME has requested PowerQ to conduct Performance Test on Bowl Air Cooling System in Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), Globe Temperature (Tg), Temperature (Ta) and Humidity (RH) logging to determine the bowl environment is in the comfort zone.
For post testing and commissioning of air-conditioned systems, PowerQ conducted 4 days study of stadium air temperature and relative humidity on October 2014. In addition, hourly measurements of air temperature measurement and RH at specified single location were recorded over the above period using a Globe Temperature data logger. Additionally, the district cooling plant parameters of CHW system were recorded to meet the design conditions. The monitoring is carried for 4 days under varied conditions including an international night football. The temperature control is able to meet the design requirement below 29.5℃ (marginal) with all AHUs fully turned on in bowl area which was accommodating about 50,000 people.
The monitoring of space temperature provides valuable information for setting control system to program the time required to start up system before any event. This is to pre-cool the bowl and the time required for temperature to reduce below acceptable condition in case of systems shut down.