Engineering Simulation Solutions for the Sport Industry

When a country or a city has the privilege of being selected as the host of a major worldwide or continental championship or event such as the Super Bowl, the Soccer European Championships, the Soccer World Cup or the Olympics, for a period of time the eyes of the world converge upon that host city. The stadium built not only serves as a symbol for the event during the games but for decades to come as an iconic landmark for the city and country. As such, the structure will become a major part of the skyline of the city and careful consideration needs to be given to its design and construction.

The design of a stadium today has to take into account the conditions under which athletes compete in their sport: They should be as ideal as possible without regard to weather. For the many spectators attending the event, it is not only critical that comfortable thermal and moisture conditions be maintained in the building, but that a safe evacuation is possible if necessary due to fire or smoke hazards. These criteria should be met in an environmentally friendly way to promote a positive image of the sport. Addressing these complex and sometimes contradictory constraints can be a Herculean task for architects and engineering design companies.

Engineering simulation solutions from ANSYS have consistently been selected by companies and host countries of numerous major sporting events to design buildings and their infrastructures over the years.

Applications include designing:

Software from ANSYS is regularly applied to numerous civil engineering and built environment applications. The unequalled depth and breadth of engineering simulation solutions offered by ANSYS enable mechanical and civil engineers to create virtual models for all types of existing and new structures with great accuracy and time-to-solution efficiency.  The engineered scalability of products from ANSYS deliver the right level of engineering performance, providing the ability to analyze the behavior of an important component of the structure or model, the entire virtual prototype of the stadium or arena or to simply understand the impact of the new construction on its surrounding environment.

Using software from ANSYS to evaluate structures, engineers can perform sensitivity and parametric studies to assess the influence of a range of variables on structural strength, including concrete wall and foundation rock material properties as well as maximum load assumptions, ventilation effects, fire and smoke hazard simulations, and pedestrian and spectator comfort. Results are provided in various formats, such as response surface plots that offer insight into design behavior that would otherwise be difficult to generate using individual single analysis runs.

Engineering simulation studies performed using our software can quickly verify the performance of a structural design for a wide range of assumed loads, foundations and material properties. Seeing the effect of a large diversity of variables often allows engineers to narrow the scope of field investigations, thus saving considerable time and cost on projects.

Running a series of virtual investigations for a variety of parameter assumptions also enables engineers to generate results showing the impact of various “what if” questions typically asked by regulators. Providing this level of supporting detail in a graphical format can give regulators greater confidence in a study’s conclusions and thus avoid unnecessary delays in the approval process.

By using comprehensive multiphysics solutions from ANSYS, truly innovative buildings and stadiums can be designed faster. New alternative materials can be investigated and their impact on the structure of the building, the comfort of its occupant as well as the global safety can be analyzed before the structure is built. Through simulation-driven building design, cost-effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions can be combined with original and innovative architecture.

Ventilation in a soccer stadium
Courtesy of GTD GmbH and University of Sheffield

Temperature stratification during a concert event in summer conditions with displacement ventilation

Design of ice-hockey arena
Courtesy of Olof Granlund Oy

Structural integrity of the arch rotation brackets for the new Wembley Stadium
Courtesy MG Bennett & Associates Ltd.

Engineers perform a fire test inside the arena
Courtesy Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

Computational mesh for the Yoyogi National Swimming pool Stadium with its double-crescent roof design
Courtesy of Shimizu Corporation