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CFD Analysis of Data Center Using Open-Source Software: OpenFOAM

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Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power, Volume 3 (FMFP 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

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Abstract

The detailed understanding of thermo-fluid flow is necessary for efficient cooling and operation of data center. This understanding can be obtained by performing a CFD analysis of the data center. Data centers are huge in size, and a detailed CFD analysis requires compute resource, time, and expertise in CFD analysis. In this work, we demonstrate use of OpenFOAM for CFD simulation of an industrial-scale data center. We also discuss about an algorithm and a tool that can create geometry from a 2D layout of an industrial data center. The tool creates mesh and carries out simulation without requiring CFD expertise. Thus, eliminating need of a CFD expert for carrying out CFD analysis on a regular basis ensures optimum operation of a data center. We found that CFD simulation of an industrial-scale data center with our algorithm takes about 2 h of time as compared to the manual simulation which takes about a month of man hour. We have also demonstrated that an OpenFOAM results are as good as Ansys Fluent results on a test data center. The CFD analysis of an industrial-scale data center is fast, accurate, cost-effective, and does not require a CFD expertise.

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Abbreviations

ρ:

Density of air (kg/m3)

g:

Gravitational constant 0f 9.81 (m/s2)

u:

Velocity (m/s)

T:

Temperature (K)

\(\mu\):

Dynamic viscosity (kg/ms)

\(\mu_{t}\):

Turbulent viscosity (kg/m.s)

α:

Coefficient of thermal expansion (/K)

\(C_{p}\):

Specific heat (J/kg K)

\(\kappa\):

Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

k:

Turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) (m2/s2)

\(P_{k}\):

TKE production rate (m2/s3)

\(\epsilon\):

TKE dissipation rate (m2/s3)

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Acknowledgements

Authors like to thank Dr. B. P. Gautham, Chief Scientist, TCS Research, for his continuous support in this work and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Research for funding this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TCS Research, Sahyadri Park, Phase 3, Hinjawadi, Pune, Maharashtra, 411057, India

    Hrishikesh Kulkarni & Dilshad Ahmad

Authors
  1. Hrishikesh Kulkarni
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  2. Dilshad Ahmad
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dilshad Ahmad .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

    Krishna Mohan Singh

  2. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

    Sushanta Dutta

  3. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

    Sudhakar Subudhi

  4. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

    Nikhil Kumar Singh

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Kulkarni, H., Ahmad, D. (2024). CFD Analysis of Data Center Using Open-Source Software: OpenFOAM. In: Singh, K.M., Dutta, S., Subudhi, S., Singh, N.K. (eds) Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power, Volume 3. FMFP 2022. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6343-0_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6343-0_29

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-99-6342-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-99-6343-0

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