The goal of data center simulation is not simply to cool the server room—it is to establish a stable, energy-efficient, and operable thermal management system against a backdrop of continuously rising power consumption and rapidly growing compute density. These challenges have become even more pronounced with the widespread adoption of AI servers.
Industry Characteristics
- High local heat density with rapid hot-spot formation
- Room-level, rack-level, and chip-level thermal management are mutually interdependent
- Continuous increase in energy consumption and PUE target pressure
Typical Issues
- Whether the cold-aisle / hot-aisle configuration is reasonable
- Whether rack inlet air temperatures are uniform
- How to lay out hybrid liquid-cooling and air-cooling schemes
- Whether recirculation and short-circuit airflow exist around high-density racks
Recommended Solution
A three-tier approach is recommended: first perform room-level CFD to identify overall airflow patterns, then conduct rack-level analysis to optimize supply and return air paths, and finally perform localized detailed cooling analysis on high-power nodes. This balances overall energy efficiency while addressing local hot-spot issues.
Delivery Value
Front-loading simulation can significantly reduce the number of on-site trial-and-error iterations after data hall retrofits, and also makes it easier to quantify the impact of different cooling strategies on energy consumption and equipment safety.