Thermal management issues in operational data centers: Computational fluid dynamics analysis and experimental study

Babak Fakhim; Srinarayana Nagarathinam; Steven W. Armfield; Masud Behnia

doi:10.1115/1.4035943

Thermal management issues in operational data centers: Computational fluid dynamics analysis and experimental study

Babak Fakhim^*, Srinarayana Nagarathinam, Steven W. Armfield, Masud Behnia

^*Corresponding author for this work

Macquarie Graduate School of Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The increase in the number of data centers in the last decade, combined with higher power density racks, has led to a significant increase in the associated total electricity consumption, which is compounded by cooling inefficiencies. Issues, such as hot air recirculation in the data center room environment, provide substantial challenges in thermal manageability. Three operational data centers have been studied to identify the cooling issues. Field measurements of temperature were obtained and were compared to numerical simulations to evaluate the overall thermal behavior of the data centers and to identify the thermal issues.

Original language	English
Article number	031009
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications
Volume	9
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4035943
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2017

Keywords

CFD
Cooling issues
CRAC
Data center
Rack
Thermal management

Access to Document

10.1115/1.4035943

Cite this

@article{09253e18437a490d83a2fe71e1535964,

title = "Thermal management issues in operational data centers: Computational fluid dynamics analysis and experimental study",

abstract = "The increase in the number of data centers in the last decade, combined with higher power density racks, has led to a significant increase in the associated total electricity consumption, which is compounded by cooling inefficiencies. Issues, such as hot air recirculation in the data center room environment, provide substantial challenges in thermal manageability. Three operational data centers have been studied to identify the cooling issues. Field measurements of temperature were obtained and were compared to numerical simulations to evaluate the overall thermal behavior of the data centers and to identify the thermal issues.",

keywords = "CFD, Cooling issues, CRAC, Data center, Rack, Thermal management",

author = "Babak Fakhim and Srinarayana Nagarathinam and Armfield, {Steven W.} and Masud Behnia",

year = "2017",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1115/1.4035943",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

pages = "1--6",

journal = "Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications",

issn = "1948-5085",

publisher = "American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Thermal management issues in operational data centers

T2 - Computational fluid dynamics analysis and experimental study

AU - Fakhim, Babak

AU - Nagarathinam, Srinarayana

AU - Armfield, Steven W.

AU - Behnia, Masud

PY - 2017/9/1

Y1 - 2017/9/1

N2 - The increase in the number of data centers in the last decade, combined with higher power density racks, has led to a significant increase in the associated total electricity consumption, which is compounded by cooling inefficiencies. Issues, such as hot air recirculation in the data center room environment, provide substantial challenges in thermal manageability. Three operational data centers have been studied to identify the cooling issues. Field measurements of temperature were obtained and were compared to numerical simulations to evaluate the overall thermal behavior of the data centers and to identify the thermal issues.

AB - The increase in the number of data centers in the last decade, combined with higher power density racks, has led to a significant increase in the associated total electricity consumption, which is compounded by cooling inefficiencies. Issues, such as hot air recirculation in the data center room environment, provide substantial challenges in thermal manageability. Three operational data centers have been studied to identify the cooling issues. Field measurements of temperature were obtained and were compared to numerical simulations to evaluate the overall thermal behavior of the data centers and to identify the thermal issues.

KW - CFD

KW - Cooling issues

KW - CRAC

KW - Data center

KW - Rack

KW - Thermal management

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017135126&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1115/1.4035943

DO - 10.1115/1.4035943

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85017135126

SN - 1948-5085

VL - 9

SP - 1

EP - 6

JO - Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications

JF - Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications

IS - 3

M1 - 031009

ER -

Thermal management issues in operational data centers: Computational fluid dynamics analysis and experimental study

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this