Prediction of Airflow and Temperature Distribution in Data Centers With Focus on Containments

This study uses CFD modeling to predict the behavior of containments in data centers under various operational and design conditions. The focus is placed on cold-aisle containments, but the discussion and results are equally applicable to hot-aisle containments. The parameters considered are the flow rate of cooling air entering the aisle in relation to the airflow demand of the racks, leakage areas on the containment walls and racks, and airflow characteristics of the servers. Results are presented for both steady-state and transient scenarios.