HIAF (High Intensity heavy ion Accelerator Facility), a new facility planned in China for heavy ion related researches, consists of two ion sources, a high intensity Heavy Ion Superconducting Linac (HISCL), a 45 Tm Accumulation and Booster Ring (ABR-45) and a multifunction storage ring system. The key features of HIAF are unprecedented high pulse beam intensity and versatile operation mode. The HIAF project aims to expand nuclear and related researches into presently unreachable region and give scientists possibilities to conduct cutting-edge researches in these fields. The general description of the facility is given in this article with a focus on the accelerator design. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.