In this series of tutorials, we cover the basics of hydraulics calculations as it relates to fire protection engineering. It coves some of the more useful hydraulic formulas such as discharge from a sprinkler head ( K-Factor), Bernoulli's Theorem, Water Density and the pressure loss formula Hazen-Williams.
It is important for fire protection engineers and designers to understand the hydraulic calculations and analysis principles to be fully gain the benefits of using full hydraulic calculations in fire protection systems such as fire sprinklers, water mist and other types of water-based extinguishing systems.
Bernoulli's theorem is a method of expressing the law of energy conservation to the flow of fluids.
One of the most important concepts in fire sprinkler design is the principle of water density, yet many fire sprinkler system design engineers do not fully understand the concept. This sort of instruction will hopefully full fill this requirement.
A to Z of commonly used terms in fire sprinkler protection.
The Hazen Williams equation is empirical and has long been used to calculate the friction loss in pipework for water-based fire sprinkler protection systems.
This article, 'How to calculate a fire sprinkler system', will demonstrate some of the basics for carrying out fire sprinkler calculations by the long-hand method.
Hydrostatics is a branch of hydraulics that deals with fluids at rest. As mentioned earlier, water is the most critical component of fire protection and hydraulic calculations so this section will look at the water at rest.
In this article, we are looking at the flow of water through an orifice, and we will define the orifice as an opening (with a closed perimeter) in an element of a flow system. For us this orifice will be a fire sprinkler head or water mist nozzle in a fire protection system. We can use the k-factor formula for almost any rounded orifice.
In fluid mechanics, the Reynolds number (Re) is the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces. Consequently, it quantifies the relative importance of these two types of forces for given flow conditions.
Knowledge and understanding of the physical characteristics of water are essential to becoming a fire protection specialist, as it is the most critical aspect of active fire protection systems.
Some fire sprinkler design authorities and design standards, such as EN 12845, limit the velocity through pipes and valves in fire sprinkler systems.
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