Numerical simulation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of server rack in datacenter

Abstract

This chapter is studying the fluid mechanics and heat transfer of single server rack using the computational fluid dynamics software. The major study is the effect of the different structure parameters of server rack in datacenter, including the grille inlet size of under-floor air distribution, the blade angle of grille inlet, the size of return outlet, and the height of return outlet. And drawing the following conclusions: (1) the size of grille inlet has a significant influence, the temperature variation is nearly 3°; (2) when the inlet velocity is below 1 m/s, the blade angle of grille has a little influence on the air distribution, but the velocity is more than 1.0 m/s; the blade angle should be below 60°, never more than the limit value which is the arc tangent of the height of server rack and distance between server rack and grille inlet; (3) when keeping the height of suspended ceiling fixed and changing the height of return outlet, the height should be close to the top of server rack; and (4) the size of return outlet has a significant influence on air distribution of servicer rack, the temperature variation is around 2°. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.