964 S.A. Nada et al.

As shown in the figure, a fair agreement between the present

Table 2 Effect of different grid size on measureable overall
model and Fernando measurements [28] exists.
performance parameters (SHI, RHI and RTI).
Mesh Right Left Right Left Right Left
rack rack rack rack rack rack 5. Results and discussion
RTI RTI SHI SHI RHI RHI
3,220,343 121 121 0.2 0.19 0.8 0.81 Numerical experiments were conducted for different layouts
3,593,599 121 121 0.2 0.19 0.8 0.81 arrangements of CRACs units distributions and different con-
4,231,343 121 121 0.2 0.19 0.8 0.81 figurations of cold aisle containments. In each experiment, air
flow and temperature distributions in the data center are
obtained and analyzed. The data center performance index
matrices SHI, RHI, RTI and RCI are calculated from the tem-
perature distribution results. In the following sections the
effects of CRACs layouts arrangements and the different con-
figurations of cold aisle containments on the flow and temper-
ature distribution and data center performance indices are
analyzed and discussed.

5.1. Effect of CRACs layouts arrangements

The distribution and uniformity of the perforated tiles air flow

is controlled by several factors such as plenum depth, size of
flow obstructions such as cables and pipes in plenum space,
layout of CRAC units with respect to the racks, tiles layout,
size, and opening area and flow resistance. These factors affect
the pressure distribution in the plenum space and control the
flow through the perforated tiles of the data center. The
Figure 4 Temperature measurement points in the XY plane. CRACs layout and their locations with respect to the racks
Line 1 and perforated tiles can be considered as one of the data center
30 design parameters that may affect the thermal management of
the data center. Two CRACs layouts are studied; in the first
layout (layout 1) the CRACs are equal distributed on the
25 two sides of the racks rows while in the second layout (layout
2) the CRACs are located on one side of the racks rows. These
temperture

are the common layouts in data centers. To compare between

20 the two layouts, the total air flow of the CRACs is maintained
the same.
Fig. 6 shows the air flow rates throw the perforated tile in
15 front of each rack of the racks row for the two layouts. The
air flow rates distribution is obtained from the modeling of
Present results
Fernando Results the air plenum with the perforated tiles. For layout 1, the fig-
10 ure shows that the air flow rate is symmetric around the middle
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 rack due to the symmetry of the problem (equal distribution of
point

Line 2
30

0.6
Layout I
25 Layout II
0.5
temperture

0.4
Mass flow rate

20
kg s-1

0.3

15 0.2
Present results
Fernando results
0.1
10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0.0
points PT 1 PT 2 PT 3 PT 4 PT 5 PT 6 PT 7

Perforated tailes no
Figure 5 Comparison between present results and Fernando [28]
for temperature measurement points on lines 1 and 2. Figure 6 Flow rates in perforated tiles for layouts 1 and 2 (kg/s).