On the characteristics of airflow through the perforated tiles for raised-floor data centers

Perforated tiles are widely used in raised-floor data centers. The cooling air across the perforated tiles must be distributed properly to adequately cool the equipment. This paper aims at investigating the dependence of the pressure loss coefficient across perforated tiles with respect to the geometrical factors and flow parameters. Numerical simulations of flow distribution of perforated tiles were performed for different pore-type and flow parameters. The pressure loss coefficient upon the Reynolds number, the tile area, the porosity, the diameter of the hole, the thickness of the hole and the arrangement is studied. The fitting equation was provided to calculate the pressure loss coefficient. And experimental tests were taken to verify the validity of the model, comparison with the other empirical equations is provided. Based on the comparison, the fitting equation is more applicable to study the pressure loss coefficient for perforated tiles in data center.