Mission Critical | Data Centers

In 2020, we arrived in South Virginia with our first contract, building a 250,000 sq ft data center. It didn’t take long to realize that the local ready-mix suppliers did not have the facility to meet the standards that this project demanded. On our dime, we tore out 1,200 cubic yards of inferior concrete, which put the fire in us to vertically integrate and build our own state-of-the-art ready-mix plant.

While building our new plant, The Great Matt Grimes of Microsoft challenged us to create a small rock thermal concrete mix. The specification was a concrete mix design that had an RHO (thermal resistivity) value below 55, which supports the efficient flow of electricity through the duct banks. Our first approved design was seven points below specification, at 48, but our work didn’t stop there. We explored all of the raw material available within a 200-mile radius, and experimented until we were able to engineer a new mix design that is far superior to what was specified.

When we presented the new mix to Matt, he was amazed to see that we had achieved an average RHO registering in the low 30s, and he shouted, “This is a Game Changer!” Today, this specialized thermal mix is called Silverback Game Changer 3500 Non-Air Duct Bank (SBGC3500NADB™). And remember, the lower the RHO value, the faster the electrical current runs through it. Our patent pending data center mix designs exceed all strength and performance specifications.

When designing concrete mixes for the data center world, a few key considerations must be made, depending on the area of the campus. Are you digging in sand, clay, or rock? What is the depth of the trench, and what backfill material are you using? Each of these points is critical to your success with creating the right design that will perform best in your environment. A “copy and paste” approach for thermal concrete will not work in the data center setting.