Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99

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Energy for Sustainable Development

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-for-sustainable-development

Energy-saving performance and mechanism studies on membrane ceiling: A

case study of the National Speed Skating Oval
Shiliang Lu 1, Haojie Qian 1, Qi Guo *, Meng Gu
School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The ceiling plays a significant role in building energy performance. In recent years, membranes have replaced
National Speed Skating Oval aluminum as a new ceiling material for speed skating ovals in the reason of energy conservation. However, the
Low-radiation ceiling advantage of membrane ceilings on energy-saving performance over aluminum ceilings remains unquantified,
Membrane material
and the energy-saving mechanism of membrane ceilings is unclear. This study takes the National Speed Skating
Energy-saving performance
Energy-saving mechanism
Oval, designed for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, as an example. A field measurement was conducted
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to evaluate the energy-saving performance of the membrane ceiling, then put forward and verified an energy-
saving mechanism assumption of the membrane ceiling by thermal radiation simulation and data analysis.
The results show that: 1. Compared with aluminum, the membrane performs better in reducing ceiling thermal
radiation; 2. The thermal radiation of the ceiling is negatively correlated with the reflectivity value of the
membrane material with a coefficient of − 0.998 and positively correlated with the thermal conductivity value
with a coefficient of 0.965. However, it shows a weak correlation with the transparency and reflective coating
position. This research reveals the impact of different material characteristics on the energy-saving performance
of the membrane ceiling and provides valuable guides for future optimizations of speed skating oval ceilings.

Introduction Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in South Korea adopted a green­

Energy conservation is one of the core concerns of the Winter
Olympics venues (Elliott, 2007; Shi & Zhang, 2022). The 1994 Lille­
hammer Winter Olympics was called the “Green Ice and Snow Olym­
pics” by Juan Antonio Samaranch, which first put forward the concept of
“Green Olympics” (Findling & Pelle, 2004; Lesjo, 2000). Moving to the
21st Century, with the Olympic Movement presenting the proposal of
Guarantee of the Earth in 1999, energy conservation and emission
reduction have become crucial indicators for successful Olympic Games
(IOC, 1999). As the most important venue of the Winter Olympics, the
speed skating oval, with the largest volume and highest energy con­
sumption among all venues, carries the role of showing advanced green
technology. Take the Winter Olympic skating ovals, as shown in Fig. 1,
as examples; the Utah Olympic Oval of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter
Olympics utilized the technology of light structure, which reduced 2/3
of the steel usage compared with similar buildings (City, 2010). The
Richmond Olympic Oval of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics uti­
lized wood structures (Long, 2010). Gangneung Oval of the 2018
house gas monitoring system for carbon emission control (Kyung & Kim,
2019). As the host of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, China has
actively responded to the international proposal for Green Olympics and
made the National Speed Skating Oval the demonstration project of
green technology (Li et al., 2021; Zheng, 2021).
The energy consumption of refrigeration accounts for more than 50
% of the total energy usage in an ice rink (IIHF, 2016), and external
thermal radiation has a considerable impact on the indoor thermal
environment (Dong et al., 2011). IIHF (International Ice Hockey
Federation) Ice Rink Guide indicates that ceiling radiation is usually the
largest load of the rink (IIHF, 2016). Therefore, efficient control of
ceiling thermal radiation could reduce the energy consumption of the ice
rink. The most common ceiling material is light metals, such as
aluminum. Studies on the heat radiation of aluminum ceilings show that
the emissivity of materials has the most significant impact on reducing
radiation of the inner surface (Torres-Quezada et al., 2019), and
different coatings of an aluminum ceiling will provide different thermal
properties (Filho & Santos, 2014). Compared to aluminum, the usage of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: 20200133@hit.edu.cn (Q. Guo).
1
Co-first author: Shiliang Lu and Haojie Qian.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2022.11.004
Received 19 August 2022; Received in revised form 3 November 2022; Accepted 6 November 2022
Available online 15 December 2022
0973-0826/© 2022 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
S. Lu et al.
membranes in the speed skating oval has a shorter history. First, the
2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics adopted a PVC membrane ceiling
for the speed skating oval (Huang, 2019). Later, the Inzell Speed Skating
Oval, the 2011 World Speed Skating Championship venue, applied the
low-E (Low Emissivity) membrane ceiling (ELA, 2020). Since then, the
membrane has become another material choice for energy-saving rink
ceilings. The National Speed Skating Oval, the speed skating venue of
the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, also utilized a membrane
ceiling (Fig. 2). Although the industry has generally accepted that
membrane ceilings have better energy performance than their
aluminum counterparts through practical experiences, few studies have
analyzed this improvement quantitatively to support the conclusion.
In the past, membrane was mostly used in the building envelope,
with the advantage of lightness (Sheng & Zhang, 2011) and sustain­
ability (Suo et al., 2015). In recent years, with the application of
membrane materials in indoor spaces, the energy-saving performance of
membranes as ceiling materials has attracted considerable attention. For
example, the ETFE (ethylene tetra fluoro ethylene) membrane with
composite insulation can reduce the temperature difference between
indoors and outdoors to 7.7 ◦ C, while the average temperature differ­
ence is only 7.0 ◦ C, 5.9 ◦ C or 4.8 ◦ C under the same environmental
conditions (Yin et al., 2022). The ceiling of a curling pavilion with a PVC
shading membrane can reduce solar radiation by 98 % (Lu et al., 2020).
J. Cremers and H. Marx have developed a new 3D-ETFE membrane
material to improve shading and energy efficiency (Cremers & Marx,
2017). J. H. Hu et al. showed that the application of a retractable
membrane ceiling in the natatorium could achieve the warming effect,
and the temperature difference between the upper and lower parts of the
membrane ceiling decreased from 3.7 ◦ C to 0.9 ◦ C, thus reducing the
energy consumption of air conditioning (Hu et al., 2018; Hu et al.,
2020). However, the comparison between membrane and other mate­
rials, specifically widely used traditional materials, in energy-saving
performance has rarely been conducted under the same environmental
and physical condition, bringing doubts to the superiority of the energy-
saving performance of membranes.
On the other hand, the energy-saving mechanism of the membrane is
not being studied systematically and most of previous research method
has limitation. The study by W. R. Binion et al. pointed out that the
membrane ceiling with aluminized reflective coating could regulate the
indoor temperature in large space buildings (Binion et al., 2014). S. L. Lu
et al. showed that the reflective coating on the upper surface helps to
reduce membrane ceiling heat absorption (Lu et al., 2020). M. Gu et al.
proposed that the shading membrane with 0.25 transparency is the most
conducive to achieving the balance between lighting and cooling energy
consumption for an ice rink (Gu et al., 2022). W. Y. Lin et al. proved that
the membrane ceiling with low radiation coating could reduce
Fig. 1. Typical Winter Olympics speed skating ovals.
(Redraw from Paper (2019), NETEASE SPORTS (2010), Baike (2018), and Xia et al. (2018).)
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Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99
refrigeration load for buildings (Lin et al., 2022). However, previous
research did not analyze thermal characteristics under the same envi­
ronmental and physical conditions, undermining the conclusion about
the relationship between different thermal characteristics and the
impact of each thermal characteristic.
In summary, few studies have quantitatively compared the energy-
saving performance of membrane materials and other traditional ma­
terials (such as aluminum) when applied to the ceiling of ice rinks, and
research on the characteristics of membrane materials has limitations in
their methodology. Therefore, this paper focuses on two aspects: (1) The
energy-saving performance of the membrane material and the tradi­
tional aluminum material was compared quantitatively to verify the
energy-saving advantage of the membrane material. (2) In order to put
forward the energy-saving mechanism of membrane ceilings, the influ­
ence of characteristics of membrane materials on energy-saving per­
formance is systematically studied under the same environmental and
physical conditions.
Standard research methods for the performance of building mem­
brane ceilings include field measurement and simulation. M. Gu et al.
measured the thermal radiation near the ceiling surfaces of the National
Aquatics Center, then used COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the
energy-saving effect of the ETFE solar shading membrane (Gu et al.,
2022). S. L. Lu et al. measured temperature, humidity, and illumination
near the ceiling surface of a curling pavilion. They used Energy Plus to
simulate the energy-saving performance of the PVC shading membrane
(Lu et al., 2020). J. He and A. Hoyano measured the radiation temper­
ature and air temperature below the membrane ceiling in a semi-
enclosed space, and a 3D CAD-based simulation tool (Thermal Envi­
ronment Simulator) was used to simulate the influence of changing
material characteristics on the thermal environment under the mem­
brane ceiling (He & Hoyano, 2018). Thus, the combination of mea­
surement and simulation is an effective method to study the energy-
saving performance and the mechanism of ceiling membrane materials.
As the ceiling of the National Speed skating hall used both membrane
and aluminum materials, and it was regarded as an appropriate case
study. Therefore, taking the National Speed Skating Oval as an example,
the paper will employ field measurement to explore the energy-saving
performance of two kinds of ceilings, make assumptions about how
membrane materials characteristics affect energy-saving performance,
and verify the result by energy simulation and statistical analysis. The
results presented in the paper are aimed at providing valuable guides for
the optimization of energy-saving oval ceilings.
Method
This study is divided into two parts. The first part is measurement.
S. Lu et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99

Fig. 2. Speed skating ovals with membrane ceiling.

(a) The speed skating oval of Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic (Huang, 2019).
(b) The Inzer Speed Skating Oval in Germany (ELA, 2020).
(c) The National Speed Skating Oval of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The thermal radiation on the surfaces of different ceiling materials is Measurement principle
measured on-site, and the thermal radiation of the ceiling is analyzed to
compare the energy-saving performance of membrane and aluminum Radiation follows the Law of conservation of energy, as shown in Eq.
materials. The second part is simulation. With the help of modeling (1) (Su, 1989). The ceiling absorbs, reflects, and transmits the thermal
software ICEM CFD 2020 R2 and thermal radiation simulation software radiation, then releases heat into the room.
Fluent 2020 R2, indoor thermal radiation values under different mem­
Q = Qα + Qβ + Qγ
brane materials were simulated, then the correlation between thermal
characteristics and thermal radiation was analyzed to propose the Qα Qβ Qγ (1)
or + + =1
energy-saving mechanism for membrane ceilings. Q Q Q
As shown in Eq. (1) and Fig. 4, the total energy of external radiation
Quantitative comparison of energy-saving performance projected onto the surface is denoted by Q, the thermal radiation energy

The National Speed Skating Oval is located in the Beijing Olympic

Park, China (Fig. 3). As the speed skating venue for the 2022 Beijing
Winter Olympic Games, the construction area is about 126,000 square
meters with 11,884 seats, a 16,500 square meters membrane ceiling,
and the largest ice area, about 12,000 square meters, in Asia. There are
two kinds of material used for the ceiling, aluminum and Soltis SK20-
Xtra low-E membrane, which makes this comparison possible (Li
et al., 2022; Zheng, 2021). The field measurement lasted from May 16,
2021, to May 20, 2021. During this period, the temperature, humidity,
and thermal radiation on the ice surface and the ceiling are measured
repeatedly. Fig. 4. Radiative thermal transfer.

Fig. 3. The plan of Beijing Olympic Park.

(Redraw by Hu et al. (2006).)

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S. Lu et al.
absorbed by the object is denoted by Qα, the thermal radiation energy
reflected by the object is denoted by Qβ, and the thermal radiation en­
ergy transmitting the object is denoted by Qγ. Qα/Q, Qβ/Q, and Qγ/Q
represent the object's absorptivity, reflectivity and transparency to the
projected radiation, respectively.
The radiation process is shown in Fig. 5. GB represents the measured
value of thermal radiation emitted to the ceiling from the roof; GA
represents the measured value of thermal radiation emitted to the ceil­
ing from the indoors; GX represents the measured value of thermal ra­
diation emitted from the ceiling to the ice surface, containing two parts,
Gβ′ and Gγ, which represent the indoor thermal radiation reflected by the
ceiling, and the outdoor thermal radiation transmitted through the
ceiling, respectively; GY represents the measured value of thermal ra­
diation emitted from the ceiling to the roof, containing two parts, Gβ and
Gγ′ . Gβ represents the thermal radiation of the roof reflected by the
ceiling, and Gγ′ represents the indoor thermal radiation that crosses
through the ceiling. (GA + GB) is the measured value of indoor and
outdoor total thermal radiation received by the ceiling, and (GA + GB)-
GX represents the reduction of indoor and outdoor thermal radiation of
the ceiling, which is the evaluation indicator of ceiling energy-saving
performance.
Measurement instrument
The exterior envelope of the National Speed Skating Oval is com­
posite galvanized steel. The envelope is heated by solar radiation and
radiates energy to the indoor space. The radiation from the envelope is
the primary source of thermal radiation that affects the ice rink's indoor
environment, which is mainly long-wave radiation (Zhang et al., 2015).
Long wave radiation meter and data-receiving equipment is the
standard test instrument for radiation, which has good stability under
many harsh environments. As shown in Table 1, the study utilized the
TP1603 long wave radiation meter, with an electromagnetic wave band
at 3.5 μm–50 μm, a long wave radiation measurement range between
0 and 2000 W/m2, a sensitivity at 1.397 μm/W m− 2, and a less than 30 s
response time. For the receiving device, the measurement data will be
transmitted to a laptop computer, which can be read in real-time and
stored every minute. Since test instruments above the ceiling will affect
the measurement of the place that directly under them, a rectangular
bracket with a fixed long-wave radiation meter is specially built to
measure the data under the ceiling.
GA: Indoor thermal radiation. W/m2;
Gγ': Indoor thermal radiation transmission. W/m2;
Gβ': Indoor thermal radiation reflection. W/m2;
GB: Roof thermal radiation. W/m2;
Gγ: Roof thermal radiation transmission. W/m2;
Gβ: Roof thermal radiation reflection. W/m2;
GX=Gβ'+Gγ: Downward radiation emission of membrane material ceiling. W/m2;
GY= Gβ +Gγ': Upward radiation emission of membrane material ceiling. W/m 2.
Fig. 5. Measurement principle.
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Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99
Measurement process
The ceiling of the ice rink is divided into eight parts from center to
edge: inner ring membrane ceiling, inner ring horse path, middle ring
membrane ceiling, middle ring horse path, outer ring membrane ceiling,
skylight, aluminum ceiling, and outer ring horse path, which is shown in
Fig. 6.
Pretest
Due to the influence of the oval ceiling shape and height, the tem­
perature and radiation distribution on the ice surface would inevitably
be uneven. Therefore, a pretest was conducted in advance to reveal the
thermal, temperature, and humidity distribution of the studied ceiling.
As shown in Fig. 7, 40 measuring points were evenly selected on the ice
surface according to the functional zone. As the venue is constructed
primarily for speed skating, half of the measuring points were on the
outer edge of the speed skating court, and half were on the inner edge.
The temperature, humidity, and long-wave radiation values received by
the ice surface were measured at 1.2 m above the ice surface.
According to the measurement data, the temperature and humidity
were evenly distributed at a height of 1.2 m. The temperature fluctuated
within the range of 7.5 ± 0.5 ◦ C, and the humidity fluctuated within the
range of 53 ± 3%RH. The long-wave thermal radiation distribution
among measuring points is shown in Fig. 8. The peak value appeared at
the mid-point of the long axis of the ice surface (measuring point 6), with
a value of 121.086 W/m2. The lowest value appeared at the mid-point of
the arc (measuring point 1), with a value of 99.025 W/m2. The distri­
bution of measuring points is symmetrical, and the trend in each quarter
is also similar, with different rates from 0.0 % to 6.1 %. Therefore, the
pretest result indicates that the actual test could be simplified by
measuring a quarter of the oval instead of the entire one.
Field measurement
Based on the pretest result, the formal test object could be simplified
as a quarter of the oval. Due to the limitation of test conditions, the
measurement points are selected near the berm. As shown in Fig. 9,
measuring points 1–9 and 31–39 are Group I, which is the membrane
ceiling experimental group; measuring points 11–19 and 41–49 are
Group II, which is the aluminum ceiling experimental group; and
measuring points 21–29 are Group III, which is the blank experimental
group with no ceilings.
S. Lu et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99

Table 1
List of measuring instruments and equipment.
Instrument Long wave radiation meter Data receiving instrument L-shaped fixing bracket

Picture

Function Test value of long wave radiation, temperature and humidity Receive data from long wave radiation meter Test long wave radiation under the ceiling
Detail Type: TO1603 Data reading: real time Length: 2 m
Range of measurement: 0–2000 W/m2 Data logging: One minute apart Material: Aluminum alloy

(a)

1 Inner ring film material ceiling 2 Inner ring track 3 Middle ring film material ceiling 4 Middle ring track
5 Outer ring film material ceiling 6 Skylight 7 metal material ceiling 8 Outer ring track 9 metal skin
10 grid structure 11 cable 12 raceway 13 aluminum roof 14 membrane material roof

(b) (c) (d)

Fig. 6. (a) Sectional structure diagram. (b) Ceiling material distribution diagram. (c) Details of the ceiling structure. (d) Roof construction (Song et al., 2020).

The energy-saving mechanism study
In order to increase the energy performance of membrane ceilings,
the energy-saving mechanism and related thermal or material charac­
teristics of membrane ceilings have to be studied. Although only a few
studies focused on the energy-saving mechanism of ice rink membrane
ceilings, many researchers have studied ceilings made from other ma­
terials, which can be used as references for selecting material parameters
to be analyzed in this work. The study by J. P. Brito Filho illustrated that
ceilings with selective coatings could significantly reduce the average
annual daily external surface temperature (21.45 %) and heat flux
(134.49 %) (Filho & Santos, 2014). U. Vigel & M. Kams emphasized the
importance of the thermal conductivity of ceilings and proposed me­
dium arithmetic for thermal conductivity for reed in the composite
ceiling with snow-cover by measuring the thermal conductivity of reed
ceilings of six buildings during the heating period (Vigel & Kams, 2011).
The investigation by J. Torres-Quezada shows that light metal ceilings
with low reflectivity tend to have a lower interior surface temperature
(Torres-Quezada et al., 2019). M. Gu proposes that the transparency of
the ceiling has a noticeable effect on the solar shortwave radiation; and
the solar shade membrane with transparency of 0.25 applied to China's
National Aquatics Center could improve the annual total energy-saving

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Fig. 7. (a) Ice surface measuring points. (b) Field measurement. (c) Field measurement.

Fig. 8. Test data from point 1 to 40.

Fig. 9. (a) Actual layout of measurement point. (b) Field measurement. (c) Field measurement. (d) Field measurement.

Fig. 10. Research mechanism hypothesis.

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to 467.3 MJ/m2 (Gu et al., 2022). Based on previous studies, this paper
proposes a hypothesis that the position of reflective coatings, thermal
conductivity, reflectivity, and transparency of the ceiling material may
affect energy-saving performance. The mechanism hypothesis is shown
in Fig. 10.
Research method and process of energy-saving mechanism
In this chapter, simulation is adopted as the research method. ICEM
CFD was used to establish a geometric model of the National Speed
Skating Oval and carry out reasonable mesh division. FLUENT 2020 was
used to simulate the thermal radiation in the skating hall. The study can
reveal the relationship between energy-saving performance and mate­
rial characteristics by simulating the average ceiling heat radiation
while changing the position of the reflective coating, thermal conduc­
tivity, reflectance, and transparency of the ceiling material. Based on the
selection of parameters, the simulation is divided into four groups, and
details are shown in Table 2.
Geometric model establishment
The 3D model with the size of 215 m x150m x32m was established by
ICEM CFD 2020 R2. This model is divided into two fluid domains by the
ceiling. As shown in Fig. 11, the grid size of the whole basin is set as
2000 mm, and the grid quality has a range of 0.4 to 1, which meets the
requirements of unstructured mesh quality in ANSYS ICEM CFD (Ji &
Chen, 2015).
Parameter setting of membrane material
DO (Discrete Ordinates) mode in ANSYS Fluent 2020 R2 is selected
for this study. The geographic coordinate is set to 116.39E, 39.99 N, the
date is set from May 16 to May 20, and the simulation time is set at noon.
The Free Stream Temperature was set to 26 ◦ C, and the Heat Transfer
Coefficient was set to 30 W/m2⋅K. The Wall Thickness is set to 0.3 m, and
the absorptivity of the Wall is set to 0.3. For the material of building
envelopes, the roof made from composite galvanized steel, and the floors
and walls are concrete. According to the manufacturer's data, Soltis
SK20 low-E membrane material with a reflective coating is applied to
the ceiling of the National Speed Skating Oval. The thermal conductiv­
ity, the reflectance, and the transparency for the Soltis SK20 low-E
membrane are about 2 W/m⋅K, 0.7, and 0.25, respectively.
By changing the physical parameters of ceiling film material, the
indoor thermal radiation values under different boundary conditions
were compared to analyze the influence of various factors on ceiling
energy-saving.
Group 1: Adjust the membrane surface that applied the reflective
coating (A-lower surface, B-upper surface, C-both upper and lower
surface) while keeping other boundary conditions unchanged.
Group 2: Adjust the thermal conductivity of the membrane material
(from 1 to 237 W/m⋅K) while keeping other boundary conditions
unchanged.
Group 3: Adjust the reflectivity of the membrane material (0–1)
while keeping other boundary conditions unchanged.
Group 4: Adjust the transparency of the membrane material (0–1)
while keeping other boundary conditions unchanged.
Table 2
Groups of simulation.
Group Group1 Group2 Group3 Group4
Parameter Position of Thermal Reflectance Transparency
reflective coating conductivity
Result Average ceiling heat radiation
Subject The ceiling of the National Speed Skating Oval
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Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99
The independence verification of grid size and iteration step
For transient numerical simulation, the independence of the grid size
and the iteration step must be verified to ensure the simulation result is
not affected by grid settings. Therefore, this study selected three grid
sizes, 500 * 500 mm, 1000 * 1000 mm and 2000 * 2000 mm (as shown in
Table 3), to simulate the thermal radiation of x, y, and z points (as shown
in Fig. 12).
As shown in Fig. 13(a), even though the number of grids increases
from 20,000 to 320,000, the thermal radiation of all three testing points
remains almost the same, indicating that the number of grids has little
influence on the calculation results. In this paper, the grid size is set to
2000 * 2000 mm.
Similarly, in order to test the independence of iteration steps, the
simulated time was set at noon on May 12, the grid size was set as 2000
* 2000 mm, and the different iteration steps were selected as 50, 100,
150, and 200 (as shown in Table 4). Then the thermal radiation of x, y,
and z points were simulated.
As shown in Fig. 13(b), the simulated value is relatively stable after
150 iterations. Thus, data after 200 steps were collected for further
analysis.
Research results
Based on the above discussion, the thermal radiation of the ceiling
has a significant impact on the energy-saving of the ice rink. According
to the measurement data, the thermal radiation at the bottom of the
membrane ceiling is taken as the first parameter (Fig. 14); and the
reduction of external thermal radiation by applying different materials is
taken as the second parameter to measure the energy-saving perfor­
mance (Fig. 15). The correlation coefficient (r) between different ma­
terial characteristics and indoor average thermal radiation is taken as
another parameter (Fig. 16). The closer the r value is to ±1, the stronger
the correlation is; conversely, the closer the r value is to 0, the weaker
the correlation is.
Analysis of measured results
As shown in Fig. 14(a), the thermal radiation value of measuring
points 1–9 (membrane material) ranges from 27 to 82 W/m2, and that of
measuring points 11–19 (aluminum material) ranges from 34 to 95 W/
m2. Under the same conditions, when the membrane ceiling was
applied, the thermal radiation value near the inner ring track was 6–13
W/m2 lower than that of aluminum. As shown in Fig. 14(b), the thermal
radiation value of measuring points 21–29 (blank group) ranges from 45
to 73 W/m2, that of measuring points 31–39 (membrane material)
ranges from 20 to 42 W/m2, and that of measuring points 41–49
(aluminum material) ranges from 31 to 46 W/m2. Under the same
conditions, when the membrane ceiling was applied, the thermal radi­
ation value near the middle ring track was 3–11 W/m2 lower than that of
aluminum and 24–31 W/m2 lower than that of blank control. In sum­
mary, the average thermal radiation under the membrane ceiling is
about 7.4 W/m2 lower than that of aluminum.
As shown in Fig. 15(a), the thermal radiation reduction of measuring
points 1–9 (membrane material) ranges from 191 to 213 W/m2, and that
of measuring points 11–19 (aluminum material) ranges from 186 to 209
W/m2. Under the same conditions, when the membrane ceiling was
applied, the thermal radiation reduction near the middle ring track is
4–11 W/m2 higher than that of aluminum. As shown in Fig. 15(b), the
thermal reduction of measuring points 31–39 (membrane material) is
136–200 W/m2, and that of measuring points 41–49 (aluminum mate­
rial) is 129–187 W/m2. Under the same conditions, when the membrane
ceiling was applied, the thermal radiation reduction near the inner ring
track is 6–13 W/m2 higher than that of aluminum. The average thermal
radiation reduction under the membrane ceiling is about 7.5 W/m2
higher than that of aluminum. Moreover, compared with the aluminum
S. Lu et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99

Fig. 11. (a) (b) (c) Model simplification and establishment process.

Table 3
Grid independence verification.
Grid size/mm * mm 500 * 500 1000 * 1000 2000 * 2000
Grid quantity 320,968 80,242 20,262
ceiling, the membrane ceiling saves 216 kJ per day.
In summary, both membrane material and aluminum sheet material
reduce the thermal radiation from the roof. Under the same conditions,
the thermal radiation emission of the membrane material ceiling is
lower than that of the aluminum material ceiling, and the radiation
reduction rate is higher than that of the aluminum material ceiling,
which would reduce the ice rink's cooling load. Therefore, the mea­
surement results further proved and consolidated the conclusion that the
membrane ceiling is superior in energy-saving.
In addition, some extended results were found by field measurement.
According to the measurement results, the thermal radiation distribu­
tion of membrane ceiling and aluminum ceiling are studied. The results
are shown in Fig. 16. (1) The closer to the center of the ice rink, the lower
the thermal radiation of the ceiling. (2) The closer to the end of the long
axis of the ice rink, the lower the thermal radiation of the ceiling. (3) The
closer to the outside of the ice rink, the more intense the change of
thermal radiation is.
Based on the above results, the reasons are analyzed as follows. (1)
The thermal radiation of the ceiling is related to the height of the ceiling.
With the saddle-shaped ceiling of the National Speed Skating Oval, the
height of the ceiling around the center and around the end of the long
axis of the ice rink is low. (2) The thermal radiation of the ceiling is
related to the venue facilities. The seats, walls, doors, and other facilities
were placed near the outside of the rink. These interior facilities may
have an impact on the thermal radiation from the ceiling. The analysis
above is only a speculation based on the field conditions, and its sci­
entific nature still needs further verification.
Table 4
Iteration step independence verification.
Iteration step 50 100 150 200
Grid size/mm * mm 2000 * 2000

Fig. 12. Selected of monitoring points.

Fig. 13. (a) Grid independency validation. (b) Iteration step validation.

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Fig. 14. Measured value of thermal radiation emission at each testing point.

Fig. 15. Reduction of ceiling thermal radiation when different materials were applied.

Fig. 16. (a) Thermal radiation distribution of membrane ceiling. (b) Thermal radiation distribution of aluminum ceiling.

Fig. 17. (a) Relationship between reflective coating position and average thermal radiation.
(b) Relationship between thermal conductivity and average thermal radiation.
(c) Relationship between reflectivity and average thermal radiation.
(d) Relationship between transparency and average thermal radiation.

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Analysis of simulation results
According to the measured data, the average heat radiation of the
ceiling at noon is about 75 W/m2. According to the simulation results,
when the thermal conductivity is 2 W/m⋅K, the thermal radiation value
of the ceiling is about 75.6 W/m2, and the error is +0.8 % with the
measured results. When the reflectivity is 0.7, the thermal radiation
value of the ceiling is about 76.0 W/m2, and the error is +1.3 % with the
measured results. When the transparency is 0.25, the thermal radiation
value of the ceiling is about 76.3 W/m2, and the error of the measured
results is +1.7 %. The thermal radiation value of the one-sided reflective
coating ceiling at noon is about 78.5 W/m2, and the error with the
measured results is +4.6 %. According to previous studies, most scholars
believe that the error rate of simulation should be controlled within 5 %
(Hiyama & Wen, 2015; Xue et al., 2022). Therefore, the simulation re­
sults of the ceiling are considered to be valid.
Group 1: As shown in Fig. 17(a), the measuring value for groups A, B,
and C replace the average indoor thermal radiation when the
reflective coating is located on the lower surface, upper surface, and
both upper and lower surface of the membrane material, respec­
tively. The simulation results showed that the average indoor ther­
mal radiation of group A was slightly higher than that of B, with a
difference of 0–2 W/m2, but significantly higher than the control
group with reflection coating on both sides, with a difference of
12–21 W/m2. It can be seen that there is a certain correlation be­
tween the thermal radiation of the ceiling and the position of the
reflective coating. Therefore, if the reflective coating is applied to
only one side, the thermal radiation of the ceiling has little rela­
tionship with the position of the coating. However, the number of
layers of the reflective coating has a more excellent correlation with
the thermal radiation of the ceiling.
Group 2: As shown in Fig. 17(b), the thermal conductivity of mem­
brane material ranges from 1 to 240 W/m⋅K (the thermal conduc­
tivity of membrane material ceiling is about 2 W/m⋅K, and that of
metal aluminum is about 240 W/m⋅K). The simulation results show
that with the increase of the material's thermal conductivity, the
indoor thermal radiation increases slowly, with a maximum differ­
ence of about 22 W/m2. 22 W/m2 is also the performance difference
between membrane and aluminum. It can confirm that the thermal
radiation of the ceiling has a positive correlation with the thermal
conductivity of the material.
Group 3: As shown in Fig. 17(c), the reflectivity of the film material is
set within the range of 0.1–1. The simulation results show that with
the increase of material reflectance, the indoor average thermal ra­
diation decreases obviously, with a maximum difference of about
139 W/m2. Therefore, it can confirm that the ceiling thermal radi­
ation and material reflectance has a strong negative correlation. By
contrast, the effect of reflectivity on thermal radiation is noticeably
more significant than that of thermal conductivity.
Fig. 18. Summarization of the mechanism of studied parameters.
97
Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99
Group 4: As shown in Fig. 17(d), the transparency of membrane
material is set within the range of 0.1–1. The simulation results show
that with the increase of material transparency, the indoor average
thermal radiation has changed slightly with a maximum difference of
0–1.1 W/m2. Hence, in an environment without direct sunlight and
refraction, material transparency has no pronounced effect on the
thermal radiation of the ceiling.
As shown in Fig. 18, the correlation coefficients of reflective coating
position, thermal conductivity, reflectivity, and transparency with
average thermal radiation are − 0.158, 0.965, − 0.998, and 0.164,
respectively. The results show that reflectivity and thermal conductivity
strongly correlate with indoor thermal radiation. However, the corre­
lations of thermal radiation with the reflective coating position, and
with the material transparency are weak (Fig. 18). Therefore, reflec­
tivity and thermal conductivity are two influential factors in the energy-
saving performance of membrane ceilings.
Discussion
Summary of research results
Taking the National Speed Skating Oval of the 2022 Beijing Winter
Olympics as the case object, this study verified the membrane ceiling's
advantage in energy-saving performance by field measurement, and put
forward the energy-saving mechanism on the membrane ceiling. The
measurement results show that membrane and aluminum ceilings are
both beneficial to energy conservation. However, membrane ceilings
perform better in reducing thermal radiation than aluminum ones, thus
reducing the cooling load of the ice rink and showing outstanding
energy-saving performance. In addition, the simulation results show
that different material characteristics have different impacts on the
energy-saving performance of membrane ceilings. Specifically, reflec­
tivity and thermal conductivity significantly affect energy conservation,
but reflective coating position and transparency have little impact.
Comparison with previous studies
Compared with the traditional aluminum material, the membrane
material shows many advantages when applied to the ceiling. J. H. Hu
et al. pointed out from the structural perspective that membrane ma­
terials are lighter, more stable, and safer than aluminum materials (Hu
et al., 2019). From the perspective of energy consumption, the research
in this paper points out that compared with aluminum material, the
membrane material is more energy efficient when applied to the ceiling.
Some previous studies have shown that material characteristics have
a certain impact on the energy-saving performance of membrane ceil­
ings. M. Gu et al. pointed out that appropriate transparency of mem­
brane ceilings is beneficial to achieve energy-saving balance in ice rinks
(Gu et al., 2022). The study by S. L. Lu et al. showed that the coating
position of the membrane ceiling was correlated with the energy
S. Lu et al.
conservation of ice venues (Lu et al., 2020). In this paper, the studied
object is a venue with a metal roof, and the long-wave radiation of the
roof is the direct thermal radiance source. However, the previous studies
mentioned above are all based on ETFE transparent structure, with solar
radiation as the direct source of ceiling thermal radiation, which is
different from the scenario in this paper. In addition, there are differ­
ences in the structure of ETFE and low-E membrane materials. Based on
previous studies, this paper expands the number of material character­
istics and discusses the influence of reflective coating position, thermal
conductivity, reflectivity, and transparency. However, other potential
characteristics still need to be further studied.
Limitations
This study only takes the low-E membrane ceiling in the National
Speed Skating Oval of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games as the
case study example. Hence, the conclusion still needs to be verified by
more cases.
Due to the influence of venue operation and management, the
measurement time in this study is limited. Longer measurement time
could make the results more rigorous.
The four characteristics of membrane material discussed in the paper
were detected from the existing research, and the possible influential
factor may still exist. Therefore, our study on the energy-saving mech­
anism of membrane materials only focuses on the correlation between
different material characteristics and radiation, and it's not enough to
raise in-depth numerical research results.
Theoretical and practical applications
This study used an engineering project as a research case, and the
method of combining measurement and simulation was applied.
Therefore, the research results have practical significance.
This study only analyzes a venue without direct sunlight. Further
studies are required for the cases with transparent envelopes or direct
lighting skylights.
This study proposed a research method for studying the energy-
saving mechanism of membrane ceilings, then verified the correlation
between material characteristics and energy conservation, laying a
foundation for other scholars in this field to explore the relationship
between other influencing characteristics and energy conservation.
Conclusion
Whether from the point of building scale or the significance, the
National Speed Skating Oval of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is a
representative study case for energy-saving membrane ceiling research.
Thus, the research results of this paper could provide guidance for other
studies in this field. The results in this paper are summarized as follows.
(1) The measured results show that compared with aluminum ma­
terial, the membrane material could reduce about 7.5 W/m2
more ceiling thermal radiation and save about 216 kJ/m2 energy
per day. Therefore, the membrane has a better energy-saving
performance in reducing the thermal radiation of the ceiling.
(2) The simulation results show that correlation coefficients between
reflective coating position, conductivity, transparency, reflectiv­
ity, and thermal radiation of membrane ceiling are − 0.158,
0.965, − 0.998, and 0.164, respectively. Therefore, the reflectiv­
ity shows a negative correlation with thermal radiation, the
thermal conductivity shows a positive correlation, and the
transparency and reflective coating position only have a little
impact on the thermal radiation.
Membrane materials are widely used in oval ceiling construction,
with the advantages of sound absorption, lightness, beauty, safety, and
98
Energy for Sustainable Development 72 (2023) 88–99
no condensation. This study explored the membrane ceiling and
compared it with aluminum material. The result shows that the mem­
brane ceiling performs better in reducing indoor thermal radiation,
which provides an energy-saving basis for speed skating ovals. There­
fore, applying membrane ceilings to ovals could not only improve the
aesthetics, but act as a practical energy conservation approach. This
study also shows that the membrane material's transparency has little
correlation with the thermal radiation of the ceiling. The results could
expand the range of transparency selections for buildings with restricted
energy requirements, offering more possibilities for membrane material
selection.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. Dr. F.
Zheng, Chief designer of China's National Speed Skating Oval of the
2022 Winter Olympics, for providing the technical drawings of the
National Speed Skating Oval for this study work. We also gratefully
acknowledge the support of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
(2021M701004) and supported by Heilongjiang Postdoctoral (LBH-
Z21150).
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