Experimentally Validated Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for a Data Center With Cold Aisle Containment

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami A. Alkharabsheh ◽  
Bahgat G. Sammakia ◽  
Saurabh K. Shrivastava

This paper presents the results of an experimentally validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for a data center with fully implemented fan curves on both the servers and the computer room air conditioner (CRAC). Both open and contained cold aisle systems are considered in this study. This work is divided into sections for the baseline system (prior to installing containment) calibration and the fully contained cold aisle system calibration and leakage characterization. In the open system, the fan curve of the CRAC unit is extracted from the manufacturer data, while the fan curve of the load banks is obtained through experimental measurements. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the average model predictions. In the fully contained cold aisle system, a detailed containment CFD model is developed based on experimental measurements. The model is validated by comparing the flow rate through the perforated floor tiles and the rack inlet temperatures with the experimental measurements. The CFD results are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data with an average relative error between the measured and computed flow rate of approximately 6.7%. Temperature measurements are used to calibrate the sources of leakage in the containment and rack mounting rails. The temperature measurements and the CFD results agree well with an average difference of less than 1 °C. This study provides important modeling guidelines for data centers. In order to predict the performance of contained cold aisle systems flow distribution, it is crucial that physics based models of fan curves, server internal resistances, detailed rack models, and other design details are all accurate and experimentally verified.

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayati Athavale ◽  
Yogendra Joshi ◽  
Minami Yoda

Abstract This paper presents an experimentally validated room-level computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for raised-floor data center configurations employing active tiles. Active tiles are perforated floor tiles with integrated fans, which increase the local volume flow rate by redistributing the cold air supplied by the computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit to the under-floor plenum. The numerical model of the data center room consists of one cold aisle with 12 racks arranged on both sides and three CRAC units sited around the periphery of the room. The commercial CFD software package futurefacilities6sigmadcx is used to develop the model for three configurations: (a) an aisle populated with ten (i.e., all) passive tiles; (b) a single active tile and nine passive tiles in the cold aisle; and (c) an aisle populated with all active tiles. The predictions from the CFD model are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data, with an average discrepancy between the measured and computed values for total flow rate and rack inlet temperature less than 4% and 1.7 °C, respectively. The validated models were then used to simulate steady-state and transient scenarios following cooling failure. This physics-based and experimentally validated room-level model can be used for temperature and flow distributions prediction and identifying optimal number and locations of active tiles for hot spot mitigation in data centers.


Author(s):  
Jayati D. Athavale ◽  
Yogendra Joshi ◽  
Minami Yoda

This paper presents an experimentally validated room-level computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for raised-floor data center configurations employing active tiles. Active tiles are perforated floor tiles with integrated fans, which increase the local volume flowrate by redistributing the cold air supplied by the computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit to the under-floor plenum. In a previous study [1], experiments were conducted to explore the potential of active tiles for economically and efficiently eliminating hot spots in data center. Our results indicated that active tiles, as the actuators closest to the racks, can significantly and quickly impact the local distribution of cooling resources. They could therefore be used in an appropriate control framework to rapidly mitigate hot spots, and maintain local conditions in an energy-efficient manner. The numerical model of the data center room operates in an under-floor supply and ceiling return cooling configuration and consists of one cold aisle with 12 racks arranged on both sides and three CRAC units sited around the periphery of the room. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package Future Facilities 6SigmaDCX [2], which is specifically designed for data center simulation, is used to develop the model. First, a baseline model using only passive tiles was developed and experimental data were used to verify and calibrate plenum leakage for the room. Then a CFD model incorporating active tiles was developed for two configurations: (a) a single active tile and 9 passive tiles in the cold aisle; and (b) an aisle populated with 10 (i.e., all) active tiles. The active tiles are modeled as a combination of a grill, fan elements and flow blockages to closely mimic the actual active tile used in the experimental studies. The fan curve for the active tile fans is included in the model to account for changes in flow rate through the tiles in response to changes in plenum pressure. The model with active tiles is validated by comparing the flow rate through the floor tiles, relative plenum pressure and rack inlet temperatures for selected racks with the experimental measurements. The predictions from the CFD model are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data, with an average discrepancy between the measured and computed values for total flow rate and rack inlet temperature less than 4% and 1.7 °C, respectively. These validated models were then used to simulate steady state and transient scenarios following cooling failure. This physics-based and experimentally validated room-level model can be used to predict temperature and flow distributions in a data center using active tiles. These predictions can then be used to identify the optimal number and locations of active tiles to mitigate hot spots, without adversely affecting other parts of the data center.


Author(s):  
Yang Liu ◽  
Yihao Zheng ◽  
John Pitre ◽  
William Weitzel ◽  
Joseph Bull ◽  
...  

Arteriovenous fistula is the joining of an artery to a vein to create vascular access for dialysis. The failure or maturation of fistula is affected by the vessel wall shear stress (WSS), which is difficult to measure in clinic. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was built to estimate WSS of a patient-specific fistula model. To validate this model, a silicone phantom was manufactured and used to carry out a particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) experiment. The flow field from the PIV experiment shows a good agreement with the CFD model. From the CFD model, the highest WSS (40 Pa) happens near the anastomosis. WSS in the vein is larger than that in the artery. WSS on the outer venous wall is larger than that on the inner wall. The combined technique of additive manufacturing, silicone molding, and CFD is an effective tool to understand the maturation mechanism of a fistula.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (03) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Jinsuo Lu ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Dengyu Wang ◽  
Xiaoyi Wang

<p class="16">Water intake with fixed height limits the application of selective withdrawal technology in a certain degree. This study proposes a technological idea to install baffles on water intake. Through the rotation of upper and lower baffle, poor water layer can be blocked. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for the upper baffle on water intake is constructed. The results show that the baffle installed on the upper part of orifice can reduce the withdrawal layer thickness and flow on the upper part of orifice centre. Thereby, the withdrawal flow on lower part can be indirectly increased. While, baffle length and inclining angle are the important factors to influence the withdrawal layer thickness and flow distribution. Therefore, the adjusting range of selective withdrawal can be economically enhanced by installing baffles on water intake.</p>


Author(s):  
Roozbeh (Ross) Salary ◽  
Jack P. Lombardi ◽  
M. Samie Tootooni ◽  
Ryan Donovan ◽  
Prahalad K. Rao ◽  
...  

The objectives of this paper in the context of aerosol jet printing (AJP)—an additive manufacturing (AM) process—are to: (1) realize in situ online monitoring of print quality in terms of line/electronic trace morphology; and (2) explain the causal aerodynamic interactions that govern line morphology based on a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (2D-CFD) model. To realize these objectives, an Optomec AJ-300 aerosol jet printer was instrumented with a charge coupled device (CCD) camera mounted coaxial to the nozzle (perpendicular to the platen). Experiments were conducted by varying two process parameters, namely, sheath gas flow rate (ShGFR) and carrier gas flow rate (CGFR). The morphology of the deposited lines was captured from the online CCD images. Subsequently, using a novel digital image processing method proposed in this study, six line morphology attributes were quantified. The quantified line morphology attributes are: (1) line width, (2) line density, (3) line edge quality/smoothness, (4) overspray (OS), (5) line discontinuity, and (6) internal connectivity. The experimentally observed line morphology trends as a function of ShGFR and CGFR were verified with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The image-based line morphology quantifiers proposed in this work can be used for online detection of incipient process drifts, while the CFD model is valuable to ascertain the appropriate corrective action to bring the process back in control in case of a drift.


Author(s):  
Jian Qi An ◽  
◽  
Kai Peng ◽  
Wei Hua Cao ◽  
Min Wu ◽  
...  

This paper aims at building a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model which can describe the gas flow three dimensions (3D) distribution in blast furnace (BF) throat. Firstly, the boundary conditions are obtained by rebuilding central gas flow shape in BF based on computer graphics. Secondly, the CFD model is built based on turbulent model by analyzing the features of gas flow. Finally, a method which can get the numerical solutions of the model is proposed by using CFD software ANSYS/FLUENT. The proposed model can reflect the changes of the gas flow distribution, and can help to guide the operation of furnace burdening and to ensure the BF stable and smooth production.


Author(s):  
David B. Stefanko ◽  
Robert A. Dimenna ◽  
Richard A. Leishear ◽  
Si Y. Lee

Velocities in the discharge jet of a submerged Advanced Design Mixer Pump (ADMP) were measured in an eighty-five foot diameter tank, and were successfully compared to predictions from a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The ADMP is a 10400 gallon per minute, dual nozzle pump ultimately used to mix the contents of a nuclear waste tank prior to further processing. The pump was initially installed, operated, and tested in a full-diameter test facility tank containing seventy inches of water. The horizontal discharge jets of the pump established a steady flow pattern in the tank, and the resulting velocities were measured throughout the tank. The data from these measurements were statistically averaged to obtain local velocities at each of the measured points in the tank. This experimental velocity mapping was compared to the results of a CFD model and showed good agreement with the calculated velocities.


Designs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Dillon Alexander Wilson ◽  
Kul Pun ◽  
Poo Balan Ganesan ◽  
Faik Hamad

Microbubble generators are of considerable importance to a range of scientific fields from use in aquaculture and engineering to medical applications. This is due to the fact the amount of sea life in the water is proportional to the amount of oxygen in it. In this paper, experimental measurements and computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation are performed for three water flow rates and three with three different air flow rates. The experimental data presented in the paper are used to validate the CFD model. Then, the CFD model is used to study the effect of diverging angle and throat length/throat diameter ratio on the size of the microbubble produced by the Venturi-type microbubble generator. The experimental results showed that increasing water flow rate and reducing the air flow rate produces smaller microbubbles. The prediction from the CFD results indicated that throat length/throat diameter ratio and diffuser divergent angle have a small effect on bubble diameter distribution and average bubble diameter for the range of the throat water velocities used in this study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2391
Author(s):  
Jose I. Huertas ◽  
Javier E. Aguirre ◽  
Omar D. Lopez Mejia ◽  
Cristian H. Lopez

The effects of using solid barriers on the dispersion of air pollutants emitted from the traffic of vehicles on roads located over flat areas were quantified, aiming to identify the geometry that maximizes the mitigation effect of air pollution near the road at the lowest barrier cost. Toward that end, a near road Computational Fluid Dynamics (NR-CFD) model that simulates the dispersion phenomena occurring in the near-surface atmosphere (<250 m high) in a small computational domain (<1 km long), via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used. Results from the NR-CFD model were highly correlated (R2 > 0.96) with the sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) concentrations measured by the US-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US-NOAA) in 2008 downwind a line source emission, for the case of a 6m near road solid straight barrier and for the case without any barrier. Then, the effects of different geometries, sizes, and locations were considered. Results showed that, under all barrier configurations, the normalized pollutant concentrations downwind the barrier are highly correlated (R2 > 0.86) to the concentrations observed without barrier. The best cost-effective configuration was observed with a quarter-ellipse barrier geometry with a height equivalent to 15% of the road width and located at the road edge, where the pollutant concentrations were 76% lower than the ones observed without any barrier.


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