Comprehensive study on the effects of plenum depths on air flow and thermal managements in data centers
International Journal of Thermal Sciences • 2017
Publication Information
Authors
S.A. Nada, M.A. Said
Keywords
Data centers; Thermal management; Plenum depth effect; Tiles opening ratio effect
Journal
International Journal of Thermal Sciences
Publisher
ELSEVIER FRANCE EDITION
Volume
122
Issue
December 2017
Pages
302-312
publication.type
International
Paper Link
Open Link
Supplementary Materials
Not Available
Abstract
A comprehensive numerical study of air flow and thermal management of data centers is conducted for different plenum depths, tiles perforation ratios and rack power densities. Temperature/air flow profiles and data centers thermal management are quantified using the performance measuring parameters SHI (Supply Heat Index), RHI (Return Heat Index) and RTI (Return Temperature Index). A CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) approach for air flow and temperature distribution simulation in the data centers is used. The results showed that increasing the plenum depth: (i) increases the uniformity of air flow rate in the data center, (ii) increases the possibility of recirculation of hot air at the racks tops and bypass of cold air at the sides of the terminal racks of the racks row, and (iii) changes the values of the measurable performance parameters to be outside the recommended ranges. The results recommend that a perforated tiles opening ratio of 25–30% and a plenum depth of 60 cm can be considered as the more suitable values for the data centers.
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