Fire sprinkler design hydraulic calculations for nicet

Fire sprinkler design hydraulic calculations for nicet software#

Perhaps the greatest drawback to using pipe schedules is that the designer has no way of knowing exactly how the fire protection system will perform in the event of fire. This bias towards conservative pipe sizes is necessary because designing with pipe schedules is so imprecise. The use of pipe schedules discourages evaluating grid, loop, and hybrid pipe layouts in the search of an optimal design.ДЇrom the perspective of minimum system cost, the major drawback of pipe schedule designed systems is that in most cases they tend to use larger, more expensive pipe sizes than actually needed. Although tree systems use a minimum amount of pipe, they tend to cause much more pressure loss than an equivalent grid system. A designer attempting to safely use pipe schedules must review hydrant test results and use judgement as to whether sufficient pressure is available.ДЄnother shortcoming of designing by pipe schedules is that they implicitly require a tree type of pipe layout. Since no specific minimum water pressure requirement is given, other than a 15 psi residual pressure at the base of the riser, it is possible that a pipe schedule designed system will not have enough pressure to function properly. However, the use of pipe schedules has a host of disadvantages that outweigh their speed and simplicity.ДЄ major shortcoming of pipe schedules is that they are based on the assumption that a certain minimum 'historical' water supply pressure is available. With such advantages one might think that pipe schedules are the way to go for time conscious designers. Since pipe schedules are simply tables showing the maximum number of sprinklers that a pipe can handle for a given hazard condition, this procedure is very fast and easy to use. In complying with the 'authority having jurisdiction', designers usually have the choice of using pipe schedules listed in NFPA 13 or hydraulically designing the sprinkler system. Most designers and contractors will agree that the design and review stages in the engineering of fire sprinkler systems are among the most time consuming and tedious aspects of the design and installation process. The need to perform more work and price it competitively has added to the burden of fire protection engineers and contractors. However, along with increased demand has also come increased competition and scrutiny of designs. For those in fire sprinkler related businesses this new legislation has been a welcome shot in the arm. New legislation coupled with the lure of dramatically reduced insurance costs have contributed to an unprecedented increase in the demand for automatic fire sprinkler systems.

Fire sprinkler design hydraulic calculations for nicet software#

COMPUTERIZING FIRE SPRINKLER HYDRAULIC CALCULATIONS COMPUTERIZING FIRE SPRINKLER HYDRAULIC CALCULATIONSВ©Д«y Bill Smith, president of Elite Software