Development of a Raised-Floor Plenum Design Tool

Existing tools for analyzing raised-floor-plenum airflow distribution focus on the prediction of tile-by-tile airflow rates and therefore necessarily require the input of a specific floor layout. Such CFD-based tools are also typically expensive, potentially slow and are of limited availability. The present study describes a design tool which takes a somewhat more qualitative approach in which overall tile airflow uniformity and the breakdown of cooling airflow (e.g., through the perforated tiles, raised-floor leakage, and cable cutouts) are estimated from only high-level design information. The design tool’s predictions are based on both CFD simulations performed “off line” and an analytical flow network model and can be used at the concept stage in a construction project or as a learning tool to quickly demonstrate the effect of design tradeoffs on plenum airflow distribution. The applicability of the tool to a real facility is confirmed through measured data and the tool is used to investigate the effect of various design choices on perforated tile airflow uniformity and distribution.