Utilizing practical fan curves in CFD modeling of a data center

In this paper we utilize a previous experimentally-verified numerical approach to simulate fan curves in the CRAC units and the servers in a representative data center. Computational fluid dynamics is used to model the data center and implementing the manufacturer fan curves on the devices. The turbulent flow is modeled by adopting k-ε model and the Boussinesq approximation is used to model the buoyancy effect. We investigate the sources of pressure drops and calibrate the CRAC units and the servers using fan curves obtained from the manufacturer and can be practically used for the modular data center. This approach was verified in previous study by comparing the airflow through the perforated plates with experimental measurements in a smaller testing room. A comparative study is established to compare between the fixed flow approximations with variable flow based on fan curves. The results show the validity of this approach by obtaining a good agreement with fixed flow for an uncontained data center.