External CFD study of a data center's airflow phenomena: cooler discharges, thermal plumes of the generators and rooftop short-circuit zones.
EOLIOS Engineering provided an overview of the thermal-airflow conditions of the various phenomena that occur at the ventilation outlets. Studying a data center's thermal plumes is essential to prevent any overheating of the servers.
The essentials. External CFD study of a data center in France, built on a digital twin including the generators, dry coolers and surrounding buildings. The simulation reproduces the plume evolution according to wind directions and locates the short-circuit zones between expelled and drawn-in air. It revealed that the original design could cause overheating of the cooling, which led to revising the design and validating suitable solutions.
The challenge of this project was to master the particular thermal-airflow phenomena induced by the discharge of the coolers, as well as the evolution of the various thermal plumes.
The CFD studies made it possible to visualise these phenomena according to different wind directions, and thus to optimise the HVAC systems. EOLIOS draws on experience from real-condition measurement campaigns and around a hundred sites simulated worldwide.
A volume of hot air released by a source (generator, dry cooler) that rises and deforms under buoyancy and wind. Its trajectory governs the risk of re-ingestion by neighbouring systems.
The digital twin of the data center studied in CFD includes the air volumes, all the generators, the external dry coolers and the walls in contact with the outside. All the HVAC systems are modelled.
It also includes the surrounding buildings, carefully modelled in order to obtain as precisely as possible the evolution of the thermal plumes according to different wind directions, and thus to quickly identify potential thermal problems. Analysing these results from a global or local perspective, EOLIOS proposes solutions tailored to the different issues identified.
A virtual replica of the data center and its surroundings, fed by the equipment datasheets. It allows different wind directions and load scenarios to be replayed without touching the real installation.
All the generators were modelled in CFD from the digital twin. The engines, the stacks, the heat-extraction fans, the equipment systems and the electrical cabinets are taken into account in the study.
The refinement of the CFD resolution provides a complex temperature distribution that is representative of reality. Certain particular phenomena were thus identified, which led to design work to resolve these issues.
The CFD simulations made it possible to represent the high-temperature zones at every point in space. This advantage of simulation made it possible to precisely identify the short-circuit zones between the air expelled by the dry coolers and the air they draw in.
The results led to conclude that the thermal-airflow dynamics of the original design could cause overheating of the cooling system. They thus made it possible to revise the original design and put in place suitable solutions, in line with the control of internal hot spots.
Key takeaway. The original design could cause overheating of the cooling. Carried out from the design stage, CFD located the short circuits and made it possible to correct the layout before any construction.
By using a CFD study, it is possible to analyse, verify and correct potential errors from the design stage. This fast and accurate method reduces design time and guarantees concrete, reliable results. Integrating CFD from the design phase means calling on experts to make sure no problem arises in the future.
Know-how: external CFD simulation for data centersDigital twin, short circuits and overheating: answers to the questions operators and design teams ask.
To master the thermal-airflow phenomena induced by the discharge of the coolers and the evolution of the thermal plumes, so as to optimise the HVAC systems according to wind directions and prevent any overheating of the servers, as on our internal study of the same DC17 site.
It includes the air volumes, all the generators, the external dry coolers and the walls in contact with the outside. All the HVAC is modelled, along with the surrounding buildings, to accurately reproduce the evolution of the plumes according to wind directions.
It is a zone where the hot air expelled by the dry coolers is partly drawn back in by those same systems. CFD locates these zones at every point in space and reveals whether the original design can cause overheating of the cooling.
The thermal-airflow dynamics of the original design could cause overheating of the cooling system. These results led to revising the design and putting in place suitable solutions, validated by simulation.
CFD simulation makes it possible to analyse, verify and correct potential errors from the design stage. Fast and accurate, it reduces design time while guaranteeing concrete and reliable results before construction.
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External CFD study of the DC17 data center: dispersion of the generators' thermal plumes according to wind directions and identification of the rooftop short-circuit zones.
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