What Is Raised Floor?_
A raised floor data center uses an elevated floor system (typically 24–36 inches above the slab) to create a plenum for air distribution, cable routing, or both. Cold air from CRAH/CRAC units is pushed through the plenum and exits through perforated floor tiles in front of server racks. While common in traditional data centers, raised floors face challenges with GPU-density deployments due to floor loading limits.
Technical Details
Raised floor systems consist of adjustable pedestals supporting removable floor tiles (typically 2x2 feet). The under-floor plenum serves as an air distribution channel and cable routing space. For GPU deployments, raised floors face several challenges: floor loading limits (standard raised floor tiles support 1,000–2,000 lbs concentrated load, but a GB200/GB300 rack at 3,000 lbs may exceed limits), air distribution limitations (the plenum may not deliver sufficient airflow for 40–120 kW racks), cable congestion (dense cabling under the floor can obstruct airflow), and liquid cooling incompatibility (liquid cooling lines in a raised floor plenum create leak risk). Many new AI data centers are built without raised floors, using overhead cable tray and overhead busway for distribution.
How Leviathan Systems Works with Raised Floor
Leviathan Systems works in both raised floor and slab-on-grade data center environments, adapting cable routing and infrastructure deployment to the specific facility design.