This shift is driven by the need for efficiency and scalability as the demand for data centres grows.
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:.
Different equipment selections –.We test different options to find a balance between cost, energy usage and performance.. Cooling unit positioning –.
Our analysis ensures an even distribution of cool air is provided to maximise cooling efficiency, in both normal and failure scenarios..
Quantity of cooling units –.A complex process of questioning ensued around the use and translation of nomenclature, which Sharp says was a useful process in itself.
However, the fact remained that every time they opened a new conversation, a new dimension and further complexity was revealed.. Sharp says this is why the ideas behind the National Digital Twin are necessary, because although we have lots of very specialised and efficient systems for sharing information, in order to achieve the next level of efficiency and public benefit, we need to start sharing information between systems.While we’re very optimised to keep water off the roads, we don’t really understand other aspects, such as whether a drainage ditch should be built to go left or right at a particular junction.
The information exists, we just need to find different ways of interpreting between it.. Sharp says that digitising planning is very much a use case of the National Digital Twin programme because people can see the value in it and therefore have the appetite to address it.She highlights that we’re currently at the very early stages of connecting digital twins and we need to choose projects which will move us forward, picking the low hanging fruit.
(Editor: Mini Heaters)