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Numerical analysis and field measurements of the airflow patterns and thermal comfort in an indoor swimming pool: a case study

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Abstract

Public indoor swimming pools are a very popular type of sports facility. They need to ensure good indoor air quality and thermal comfort of the occupants (TCO) while reducing their energy consumption. The objectives of this study are to develop a numerical code, based on the zonal method; to investigate the indoor airflow patterns; and to determine the TCO in the indoor swimming pool. The numerical simulation, performed using the TRNSYS software (version 17), is validated against intensive field measurements, carried out in the public indoor swimming pool located at Bishop’s University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada), of the temperature, velocity, and relative humidity of the air as well as the surface temperature of the walls, ceiling, and floor. The developed code is then used to study the indoor flow patterns and to evaluate the TCO using three indexes: the humidex chart, the predicted mean vote (PMV), and the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD). The results show a hot-humid rather uncomfortable atmosphere is prevailing in the occupied parts of the studied indoor swimming pool. The calculated airflow rates show that, due to the position of the ventilation inlets and outlets, most of the ventilation air circulates in the upper part of the building causing an insufficient air renewal in the occupied parts of the studied indoor swimming pool.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area (m2)

C d :

Discharge coefficient

h :

Height (m)

g :

Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

M :

Metabolic rate

\( \overset{\cdot }{m} \) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

L :

Thermal load

P :

Static pressure (Pa)

T :

Temperature (°C)

x,y,z :

Cartesian coordinates

ρ :

Density of the air (kg/m3)

ε :

Constant depending on flow direction (±1)

i :

Cell i or surface i

i,j :

Between surface or cell i and j

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Université de Sherbrooke and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for their financial support as well as the authorities of Bishop’s University for giving us access to the swimming pool in order to measure the variables presented in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K2R1, Canada

    Mathieu Lebon, Hachimi Fellouah, Nicolas Galanis, Abdelhakim Limane & Nasreddine Guerfala

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  1. Mathieu Lebon
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  2. Hachimi Fellouah
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  3. Nicolas Galanis
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  4. Abdelhakim Limane
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  5. Nasreddine Guerfala
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Correspondence to Hachimi Fellouah.

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Lebon, M., Fellouah, H., Galanis, N. et al. Numerical analysis and field measurements of the airflow patterns and thermal comfort in an indoor swimming pool: a case study. Energy Efficiency 10, 527–548 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-016-9469-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-016-9469-0

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