Webinar | CFD Modeling in Data Centers
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become an essential tool for understanding and optimizing airflow, heat transfer, and environmental performance in complex building and infrastructure systems. For this educational webinar, IBPSA-USA’s Education Committee has invited Allen Mei and Professor Wangda Zuo to provide an introduction to CFD and showcase how it is applied to solve real-world engineering challenges.
The session will begin with a high-level overview of the types of questions CFD can answer, including key inputs, common outputs, and an overview of the CFD software landscape. Allen Mei and Professor Zuo will then share practical case studies demonstrating how CFD is used to evaluate and optimize building and data center performance, from airflow management and cooling strategies to capacity planning, contamination control, and environmental analysis.
This event is free for students, $10 for IBPSA-USA members, and $18 for non-members. Please register for the event using your IBPSA-USA associated email address as we verify membership upon providing access to the webinar.
Dr. Wangda Zuo is a Professor of Architectural Engineering, a Fellow of the Institute of Energy and the Environment, and the Faculty Research Lead for the Future Energy Landscape at the Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation, with a joint appointment at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory of the Rockies. He is a Fellow of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA). Over the past 15 years, his research team has developed advanced software tools for data center cooling system design and operation, several of which have been adopted by industry. In collaboration with Schneider Electric, his team received the 2025 IBPSA Innovative Application Award for developing a fast CFD tool for data center design that is now widely used in practice.
Allen Mei is a Principal at Clearbrook Energy Solution in Connecticut. He is a licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer and an ASHRAE BEMP. He specializes in building performance simulations, including energy modeling, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), daylight analysis, and energy code consulting. He has contributed to over 3GW of data center development projects. His work in this sector includes site entrainment studies, equipment yard layout optimization, internal data hall thermal and airflow modeling, and short break analysis. Additionally, Allen leverages energy modeling to help data center design teams optimize their designs, ensure compliance with energy codes, and achieve sustainability certifications.
