Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design (대한건축학회논문집:계획계)

Architectural Institute of Korea (대한건축학회)
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Modeling Strategies and Thermal Management Performance of a Data Center with Cold-aisle Containment using CFD

컨테인먼트가 적용된 데이터센터의 CFD 모델링 기법 및 열 관리 성능 평가

  • Received : 2014.10.08
  • Accepted : 2014.12.19
  • Published : 2015.01.30
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Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate thermal management performance of data center with cold-aisle containment by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The main challenge of containment modeling in CFD is to consider the air leakage across the containment, which was neglected or considered based on the researchers' subjective assumption or complex measurement process. To properly evaluate the thermal management performance of containment, this study utilizes the building airtightness measurement data from building airflow simulation program (CONTAM) to model air leakage across containment. Based on the modeling strategy, the CFD simulation is conducted on modular data center test bed, and an experiment is also implemented in identical condition of CFD simulation. As a result, pressure distribution in the data center is properly modeled with the air leakage model, and the temperature measurement data are in good agreement with CFD results. Unlike intuition, the thermal management performance of containment is not excellent since there is some hot air recirculation through gaps between racks and the floor. This study also suggests that this recirculation can be alleviated by sealing the gaps between racks and the floor through CFD simulation.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : 한국산업기술평가관리원

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