A computational fluid dynamics study on airflow patterns in an indoor gymnasium

Airflow pattern in an indoor sports hall of 17,325 m(3) located in the sports complex of City University of Hong Kong has been investigated by computational fluid dynamics technique. The turbulence flow was taken into account by using Renormalisation Group method (RNG) k-epsilon model. The objectives of this study is to obtain a preliminary understanding of the airflow pattern and evaluate the badminton "playing zone" within which there should be no disturbance to the badminton shuttle behaviour. An on site experiment employing a new, innovative statistical approach was used to evaluate the badminton playing zone which was then used in the numerical simulations. A total of four badminton male players of City University of Hong Kong's badminton team were selected for the statistical experiment. 2 single badminton matches between the four badminton players was video recorded. The video tape was then played back frame-by-frame for analysis. The result from this study can be used to evaluate the airflow pattern and the standard design criteria for indoor gymnasium. This research comes to conclude that airflow within selected gymnasium might produce disturbance to the badminton shuttle. Recommendations on the air-flow pattern have been made to improve the conditions of the stadium for badminton matches.