1. A method for modeling thermal distributions in a data center, comprising the steps of: obtaining vertical temperature distribution data for a plurality of locations throughout the data center; plotting the vertical temperature distribution data for each of the locations as an s-curve, wherein the vertical temperature distribution data reflects physical conditions at each of the locations which is reflected in a shape of the s-curve; and representing each of the s-curves with a set of parameters that characterize the shape of the s-curve, wherein the s-curve representations make up a knowledge base model of predefined s-curve types from which thermal distributions and associated physical conditions at the plurality of locations throughout the data center can be analyzed.