Computational fluid dynamic investigation of liquid rack cooling in data centres

Relying on thermal air management in a data centre is becoming less effective as heat densities from the Information Technology (IT) equipment continue to rise. Direct liquid cooling is more efficient at transferring the waste heat, but requires liquid loops passing as close as possible to the heat source. A new Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) strategy is developed for data centre scenarios where a liquid loop heat exchanger is attached at the rear of server racks (back doors), which can avoid the need to separate the cold and hot air streams in traditional hot/cold aisle arrangements. The effectiveness of additional fans in the back door heat exchangers is investigated using the three-dimensional CFD model of a simplified three-aisle, six-rack data centre configuration.