Air-side economizers are increasingly used to take advantage of “free-cooling” in data centers with the intent of reducing the carbon footprint of buildings. However, they can introduce outdoor pollutants to indoor environment of data centers and cause corrosion damage to the information technology equipment. To evaluate the reliability of information technology equipment under various thermal and air-pollution conditions, a mechanistic model based on multi-ion transport and chemical reactions was developed. The model was used to predict Cu corrosion caused by Cl2-containing pollutant mixtures. It also accounted for the effects of temperature (25 °C and 28 °C), relative humidity (50%, 75%, and 95%), and synergism. It also identified higher air temperature as a corrosion barrier and higher relative humidity as a corrosion accelerator, which agreed well with the experimental results. The average root mean square error of the prediction was 13.7 Å. The model can be used to evaluate the thermal guideline for data centers design and operation when Cl2 is present based on pre-established acceptable risk of corrosion in data centers’ environment.

空气侧节能器越来越多地用于利用数据中心的“自然冷却”，以减少建筑物的碳足迹。然而，它们会将室外污染物引入数据中心的室内环境，并对信息技术设备造成腐蚀损坏。为了评估信息技术设备在各种热和空气污染条件下的可靠性，开发了一种基于多离子输运和化学反应的机械模型。该模型用于预测含Cl2污染物混合物引起的铜腐蚀。它还考虑了温度（25°C 和 28°C）、相对湿度（50%、75% 和 95%）和协同作用的影响。它还确定较高的空气温度是腐蚀屏障，较高的相对湿度是腐蚀加速器，这与实验结果非常吻合。预测的平均均方根误差为 13.7 Å。该模型可用于根据数据中心环境中预先确定的可接受的腐蚀风险评估存在 Cl2 时数据中心设计和运行的热准则。