Seismic Supports for AI Data Centers
September 9, 2025
As AI becomes an increasingly prevalent part of our world, we are seeing a return to raised access floors to accommodate the more demanding cooling needs of the servers that power AI services. These larger, heavier servers are now being elevated above liquid cooling systems, which, combined with the expense of an AI hyperscale data center, requires owners to consider redundancies in their support structures to protect their investment. Those considerations are what led to our team's involvement in a recent AI data center project.
The Challenge
Our team was contacted directly by the raised access floor contractor who was working on an AI data center project. Due to our established relationship with this contractor, they knew that Unistrut Midwest could help them create an additional layer of support to the planned raised access floor as a redundancy measure.
The raised access floor contractor and project owner knew they needed additional support for a few reasons. First, this AI data center is located in a seismic zone. While the planned raised access floors were seismically designed, everyone involved felt that an additional backup support system was a smart idea.
Second, AI servers require a higher level of cooling than typical servers. These servers have liquid cooling systems built in, delivering the liquid cooling directly to the chips. The volume of liquid required to adequately cool these systems not only adds a significant amount of weight to each server, but it also requires the servers to be raised 30-36" above the data center floor to accommodate the necessary piping underneath.
Third, each of these AI servers is much more expensive than a standard server, with each piece of equipment costing $1 million to $5 million. Each of the dozens of rows of servers in the data center is valued from $7 to $30 million. With heavy, expensive cabinets on a raised floor above a liquid cooling system in a zone with a very real threat of seismic activity, it only made sense to consider adding a Unistrut support system under the raised access floor to further protect the owner's investment.
Seismic Support Solution for an AI Data Center
By partnering with Unistrut Midwest, the raised access floor contractor knew they had a team that would design a solution, provide stamped engineered drawings, prefabricate the solution, and install it on site, creating a truly turn-key experience from conception through completion.
Within 48 hours of the initial conversation with the raised access floor contractor, our team had submitted a mockup design and had it approved by the contractor. Our team designed an independent, seismic design category D-rated Unistrut support structure for the servers, which is not connected to the raised access floor. Instead, the structure sits below the raised access floor, and the servers are bolted through the raised access floor and into the Unistrut system. This creates a redundancy layer, so that if the raised access floor collapses in the event of seismic activity, the Unistrut frame will continue to support the server cabinets, preventing them from tipping over or crashing to the ground.
Our team designed the support system out of stock components, allowing us to begin prefabrication as soon as the designs were approved. We prefabricated all of the U-braces in our warehouse and were on the project site for installation within two weeks of the initial conversation.
Once on site, our team installed the U-braces and connected the precut horizontal braces of the system. The Unistrut system was anchored to the data center's concrete slab with standard wedge anchors, and our team bolted the server cabinets onto the support structure through the raised access floor. With no cutting needed on site and no welding required, thanks to Unistrut's all-bolted connections, our team could quickly assemble the support structure around the existing raised access floor. This allowed the raised access floor contractor to keep his existing installation schedule.
Unistrut's ability to connect anywhere along the strut meant that our team could begin installation without knowing the size of the server cabinets beforehand. They simply adjusted the connections in the field for appropriate fastening based on the server size.
The Unistrut Midwest installation team was able to quickly assemble this solution in about four hours per row, keeping the overall construction timeline intact.
The AI Data Center Seismic Support Solution Result
The demands of these newer hyperscale data centers create a perfect storm of risk. The additional piping needed for the intense cooling demands of these servers requires a raised access floor, placing expensive equipment in a potentially precarious position.
With this secondary Unistrut support system, the owner now has peace of mind that their valuable servers have additional protection in the event of seismic activity. Not only does this protect their monetary investment, but it also furthers the odds that their services will remain live despite a natural disaster.
This redundancy application is relevant even outside of seismic zones, as many mission-critical data centers are designed to seismic standards, whether their surroundings require it or not. These data centers simply can't risk going down, so it makes sense to mitigate risk where they can. Installing a secondary support structure under the raised access floor provides an additional layer of security and protection for a small percentage of the overall project budget.
Do you have a data center raised access floor that could use additional protection? Contact our team to see how we can help secure your investment.