Air, Fluid Flow , and Thermal Simulation of Data Centers with Autodesk Revit 2013 and Autodesk BIM 3600 pages

Autodesk® Revit® 2013
Autodesk® BIM 360™

Air, Fluid Flow, and Thermal
Simulation of Data Centers
with Autodesk Revit 2013
and Autodesk BIM 360
Data centers consume approximately 200 terawatt
hours of energy worldwide and were estimated to
account for almost 2 percent of total U.S. energy
consumption in 2010.1 Constructing new data centers
and retrofitting existing sites to be more energy
efficient is a major priority in the industry. This paper
will discuss how using computational fluid dynamics
cloud-based services within the Autodesk 3602
platform as part of the BIM process enables MEP
engineers using Autodesk Revit3 software to move
computational-heavy simulation tasks to the cloud,
helping them to better predict, optimize, and validate
their designs early in the design process.
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineers can drive cost benefits to their
clients by using energy conservation measures (ECMs) as a thermal management
strategy on data centers. By performing computational fluid dynamic simulations to
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their Autodesk Revit design models, engineers can make more informed decisions
on the systems to help optimize operation and maintenance costs for data center
owners.
Whereas direct liquid cooling, direct generation (DG), and combined heat and power
(CHP) have not been widely adopted by data center designers due to cost and risk,
systematic implementation of energy conservation measures is an increasingly
common thermal management strategy. ECMs frequently result in lowcomplexity/high-yield modifications that lead to significant energy and cost savings.

1

Data-Center Green Movement Gains Ground. Engineering News-Record. Issue: 09/10/2012.

2

Autodesk BIM 360 air, fluid flow, and thermal simulation requires Subscription to Autodesk
Simulation 360.
3

Autodesk Revit 2013 contains the functionality of Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2013,
Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2013, and Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2013 software, and is available in
the Autodesk® Building Design Suite 2013 Premium and Ultimate editions. To limit the use of
product name repetition, the use of the name “Revit” throughout this paper refers to both
Autodesk Revit and Autodesk Revit MEP.

www.autodesk.com/bim360