A typical hyperscale data centre design, with the racks, then space for cabling and power, then a ceiling void and structure, will have a storey-to-storey height of often of seven or eight metres, and sometimes more.
These strategies can include reducing storey heights, optimising Hot Aisle Containment (HAC) required and reducing the clearances between data racks leading to a smaller data hall footprint.. At Bryden Wood, we advocate for a broader application of CFD in optimising and innovating data centre design, aiming for a more sustainable future within the industry.. Data Hall Design Optimisation.CFD Analysis of a Switch Room.
CFD is traditionally used within data halls and Electrical Plantrooms to assess IT or Electrical Plants (e.g.UPS), both in normal running (N+X) and failure scenarios (N) and to ensure optimal cooling distribution and equipment performance.By integrating CFD early in the design process we can explore design options available to improve optimisation from both an economic and carbon standpoint..
Embodied carbon for a recent DC project.. MEP systems, especially cooling and power distribution, account for a considerable proportion of a data centre’s embodied carbon.By leveraging CFD, we can effectively minimise this impact by optimising cooling efficiency.
Structures contribute to approximately 10% of the overall embodied carbon on a DC project, making it important to explore options that enhance design sustainability through material reduction..
Examples of typical options we analyse to optimise the design:.Still, digitising planning presents a complex and difficult challenge.
Rickets says that while planning isn’t broken, it is slow.Once the designs of architects and engineers are submitted to the local planning authority, all of that design, modelling, information and data, is, in a sense, dumbed down.
It’s turned back into 2D plans and some PDF documents.Much of the valuable information is lost because councils can’t consume the 3D designs and BIM models created by architects and engineers.. From this point, the information goes to the local planning authority.