cfd for data centers seems to have been on the back burner in terms of attention, but is now gaining wider use as cloud computing drives data and applications off the desktop. engineers know that you have to do something with the growing heat but trial and error is far more difficult and costly in a building full of computers vs a relatively smaller system. cfd is one of the tools that can help.

indeed, a quick search on coolingzone's library google scholar feature reveals articles going back to 2002 on cooling data centers but not until about 2008 is their talk about using cfd to model a data center. if using cfd to model a data center's thermal map seems uncommon, it makes complete sense when you start to think of the data center as simply a larger system, with the racks of computers, san, routers and other it equipment as the components. but there are complexities in this modeling with the interaction of equipment, how the data center's design plan is set, and the thoughts on future growth that need to be considered.

the latest article to consider this topic is from "the data center journal". in an article titled, "cfd for data centeres: driving down cost and improving ease of use", paul bennis makes the case for using cfd. in his article he notes that what to look for in a cfd model and how the process works for a data center, particularly monitoring.

another resource worth investigating is a video on cfd of a data center from deinsol corporation. the demo video, three minutes in length, is worth watching to see how the process works and to get a real feel for how deinsol uses this important tool.

future facilities may be the leader in this space from a tools and knowledge standpoint. future facilities 6sigma dc software provides highly detailed models of data centers, including down to network ports and weight on the floor of the data center. the benefit of this kind of model is that you can model and control to the point where you can manage for margin of specific inlet temperatures of it equipment in the facility. future facilities is an exhibitor at coolingzone-12, august 27-30 in cambridge ma. one of the scientists, chris aldham, is teaching a course on august 28th at coolingzone-12 entitled, "thermal design of electronic systems for use in data centers". register for coolingzone-12 by clicking to: coolingzone-12 thermal management conference

see a quick demo of future facilities software for cfd for data centers by clicking to this you tube video