OpenBuildings Data Centre Designer?

Doing some research for an ex-colleague on data centres here in the UK. Apparently poised for big growth in the UK, especially outside the M25, and beyond in the EU. Edge computing, 5G etc on the horizon.

DCs seem like an up-and-coming 'infrastructure' market... with relatively few purpose-built design / analysis packages available. Maybe, this is because the clients are big enough to do write their apps inhouse?

Hevacomp > OpenBuildings Energy Simulator already provides an engineer-centric analysis package with the CAD back-up for the inevitable design and simulation model set up. As mentioned elsewhere, you could see a lot of engineering firms completing small projects without really needing external architect-firms using OBD-OBES. Not the other way around.

Looking at CoolSim, which is built on top of the Ansys Fluent engine, I was thinking that most of the work really was providing the Visio / Sketchup-like frontend to create the 3d geometry obstructions for the simulation engine and the analytical features (racks, diffuser floor tiles, ducts, baffles, CRAC etc) for CFD engine. Sure, a lot of tweaking was probably required to tune the features behind the scenes that is not discussed / disclosed. Just having correctly modeled 3d volumes does not guarantee a usable mesh for CFD. No model = No sim = Big bottleneck for PhD in garage. Building up a simulation-ready library of manufacturers' products no doubt took a lot of time as well. I imagine using something generic like Hevacomp's Dynamic Simulator would be very labour intensive in comparison, on a project.

Nevertheless, I am struck by how many of the software challenges and features involved have been paralleled in the Bentley world.

1. Analyical + Design modeling: OBES + OBD is the closest comparison, but the fusion of analysis and analytical modeling can also be seen in SubStation Designer, STAAD Physical Modeler, OpenBuildings Station Designer + Legion, OpenTower, WaterGEMs, Plaxis, PlantWise, Maxsurf etc.

2. Simplified proxy geometry for simulation meshing: STAAD, SACS has some tools for parametric meshing for FEA. Would Mstn's solid modeling tools help mesh modeling for CFD, here? Clash detection to help spot overlapping geometry and gaps?

4. Visualisation of the CFD, heat map results: A lot would come from the simulation engine (OBSD Legion Simulator etc) Maybe, big brother Siemen's Flowtherm or SimScale should be Bentley's engine here?

5. Generative design / optioneering: Bentley's cloud-based Scenario Services should have much of the legwork down already.

6. Digital Twin: the rack contents (three year replacement cycle), load patterns change, expansion etc means continual monitoring is essential. Bentley is the go-to partner for providing all kinds 'bridge' or 'connectors' between CAD/BIM models and web-based DT assets.

7. CAD interop + drafting in CAD: As usual, a lot of visual layout tools developed in analytical tools plateau out and then need to leverage an external CAD package, which brings with it all the usual and large laundry list of ancillary functionality.

8. Detailed modeling for construction and quantification: Cost is always a big design factor but often needs higher LOD modeling to flesh out the cost model. Nice example of how the simplied geometry is used to generate more detailed models. Remember that the simulation model will need to be a low level proxy. Bentley has a lot of great electrical tools like BRCM, Promis.e, SubStation, BBES etc and all the other Mech, structural and architectural modelers that are ready in the wings to provide detail... in the same model / format.

9. Schematic and item tree views in the design / layout tool: OpenPlant P&ID, Mstn Items / Project Explorer, Netsys?

10. ??

It would great to leverage the work already done elsewhere at BSY and hackathon out OBDCD, ASAP... or partner with someone like Coolsim or Netzoom. Or Siemens? DCs -especially Hyperscale ones- are are closely linked with the power / micro-grids. In combo with Utilities Designer, OpenComms, SisNet?

Every so often you hear about an impending democratisation of CFD / simulation tools. May be worth investing in a slow-burn path to incorporating CFD tools into OBES? All the MEP engineers I've dealt with when trying to squeeze the chiller plant enclosure on the roof throw up their hands and point to the manufacturer who are more likely to have CFD resources. Atria, swimming pools and control rooms? Maybe some that know how will trickle out to the consultants?

CFD will probably never really become truely mainstream and displace the existing tools, but it would be great to ramp up smoothly. You never know. Eg Covid is likely to stick around and there could be a big demand for modeling existing premises to evaluate and improve... if it were cheap / available enough.