FIre hydraulic calculations and analysis software for tree system
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tFIRE: Fire hydraulic calculations for fire services systems
> tree system fire hydraulic calculations, and analysis for fire sprinkler system and other fire services systems
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Why tFIRE Hydraulics? Need to perform design in confidence
Fire engineers can't run away from fire hydraulic calculations. It is tedious by manually calculating. Most fire systems installed today are hydraulically engineered for reliability and cost-effectiveness. Hydraulic calculations are paramount in designing water-based fire fighting systems to ensure adequate flow and pressure in the most remote areas. To be efficient and sustainable in solving the fire hydraulic issues, see how easy it is to do it with tFIRE hydraulic calculations in a digital environment.
tFIRE: Fire hydraulic calculations . . . it reflects the digital way you work
tFIRE Hydraulic Calculations and Analysis: Design with ease, Just-In-Time solutions to meet your need
tFIRE hydraulic performs tree system fire hydraulic calculations based on pressure dependent demand model. It uses the Hazen-Williams formula for the hydraulic analysis of end heads or nozzles towards the water source/pump. The process of calculating is iterative. The actual discharge flowrate of heads or nozzles is governed by the specified head K-factor and the minimum head flow criteria. At any hydraulic junction point, flow balancing is necessary since there can only be one pressure at any point. NFPA 13 states that the pressure at the hydraulic junction should balance to within 0.03 bar.
Note that tFIRE does not produce an isometric diagram. Looped or gridded pipe network is not available in tFIRE.
Built-in pipe types (with its pipe internal diameter and Hazen-Williams C-factor) are:
[1] SMW = Steel Medium Weight (C=120), EN 10255
[2] SM1 = Steel Medium Weight (C=100 for dry pipe system), EN 10255
[3] S40 = API Sch 40 (C=120), ANSI B36.10
[4] SS4 = Stainless Steel Sch 40 (C=150), ANSI B36.19
[5] DIC = Ductile Iron Cement-lined (C=140), EN 545
[6] CUL = Copper Type L (C=140), ASTM B88
[7] CUX = Copper Table X (C=140), EN 1057
Built-in valves and fittings (with its equivalent length) are:
[1] SE = 90o Screwed Elbow
[2] WE = 90o Welded Elbow
[3] TC = Tee or Cross
[4] BV = Butterfly Valve
[5] GL = GLobe Valve
[6] GV = Gate Valve
[7] SC = Swing Check Valve
Head flow Q = K * sqrt (P)
tFIRE has built-in a QKP calculator enabling the user to find the discharge flow Q, head or nozzle K-factor and operating pressure P.
As an example, for a known K=80 lpm/bar^0.5 and specified P=0.5 bar, calculated head flow Q = 56.57 lpm. For the fire sprinkler system, it should be noted that the head flow Q must also satisfy the Density-Area requirement (ie, Head flow = Design density x Head coverage area).
In NFPA 13, the minimum sprinkler operating pressure for LH, OH and EH is 0.5 bar. In EN 12845, SS CP52 and AS 2118, minimum sprinkler operating pressure for LH is 0.7 bar, OH is 0.35 bar and HH is 0.5 bar.
[LH = Light Hazard, OH = Ordinary Hazard, EH = Extra Hazard, HH = High Hazard.]
Important to Note:
The software is designed with only the following Engineering units.
Flow: L/min (LPM). Velocity: m/s
Pressure: bar. Head K-factor = LPM/sqrt(bar)
Pipe Length: m. Diameter: mm
Discharge density: mm/min. Area: sq.m
Demo Example: illustrates ease of input and formatted output
input data:
calculation results output:
download full pdf copy of the calculation results report.
Verification: Result Comparisons with other 3rd party fire hydraulic software
Calculations using other third-party fire hydraulic programs are studied. The comparison of the results is shown below. It is noted that this study is not an apple-to-apple comparison due to some differences in equivalent length for the valves and fittings.
Project Example: Water Monitor
Fire extinguishing Water Monitor is commonly used in high-volume open spaces such as atrium and sport halls where a fire sprinkler system may be ineffective when sprinklers are installed at high levels. Singapore Fire Code calls for Water Monitor as an alternative fire protection system when ceiling height exceeds 18m.
Water monitor flowrate = 5 l/s (300 lpm)
Minimum operating pressure = 6 bars
Two water monitors in operation
input data:
Project Example: Water Mist
Water Mist high pressure system to protect generator room in compliance with NFPA 750.
Water Mist nozzle 1 used for room protection: 5.8 LPM, K 0.87 LPM/Bar^0.5
Water Mist nozzle 2 used for opening protection: 1.6 LPM, K 0.24 LPM/Bar^0.5
Total 14 nozzles in operation
input data:
calculation results output:
download full pdf copy of the calculation results report.
If you need to plot pump curve and system curve to analyse the water demand of the pump source, you can use PumpCurve ScaledPlot or CurveFit Tracer to do so.
Project Example (PumpCurve ScaledPlot):
To determine the water demand of the pump source, plot the hydraulic point system curve on the pump curve. The intersection point is the operating point, and it is the water demand of the source.
Project Example (CurveFit Tracer):
Plot of pump performance curve and system resistance curve to determine the water demand of the pump source using CurveFit Tracer program.
Isometric diagram: If you need help to draw isometric diagram, see draw pipe isometric program.
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tFIRE
Price: USD 9.95
OS requirements: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11
(Note: this software does not work on Windows XP).
