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1. Introduction
The cities are moving towards High Rise Buildings. This has imposed challenges for designers.
Hydraulics in High Rise buildings deals with Water. Unlike Air, water is heavy and a vertical column
of water contained in various pipelines of the buildings imposes pressures at the lower levels. This
pressure becomes such a culprit that designers need to find ways to deal with it. In the subsequent
sections we will discuss some key challenges faced in Hydraulics of a high rise building that need
attention and how can they be addressed.
Similarly Condenser Water Pumps and Heat Exchanger Pumps can be employed on downstream
of Condensers and Heat Exchangers respectively to limit pressures on them.
Having the complete plant room placed on upper floors can help reducing the pressures
experienced by the critical plant equipment but this is not always possible.
2.3. Zoning
Excess pressures because of very high heights need to be handled by breaking pressures using
Heat Exchangers. Heat Exchangers allow transfer of heat from one zone to other but pressure
of higher zones is isolated from the lower zones. Heat Exchangers also bring in the challenge of
temperature drop from low temperature zone to high temperature zone, additional pressure
drop on Heat Exchanger and controls for optimized and efficient heat transfer from one zone to
other.
In the two figures below for option1 & 2 the Valve controller senses temperature in Zone 1 and
modulates 2 way control Valve across Heat Exchanger to allow only as much water from pump
P2 as is required. As in any conventional secondary pumping system, P2 and P1 pumps can a be
made to operate on variable speed based on feedback Differential pressure sensors in Zone 2
In relatively larger capacity circuits a separate dedicated pumping system P3 to feed to the Heat
Exchanger could become viable (Option 3). In this case Pump P3 could operate on variable
speed directly based on the Temperature feedback from the Zone 1 and pressure drop in 2 way
valve across Heat Exchangers could be avoided. These pressure drops across 2 way Control
Valves could otherwise become substantially high to maintain the required valve authority.
3. Fire Fighting
After 9/11 fire in Timesquare buildings, the codes have become extra vigilant on the Firefighting
requirements of High Rise Buildings. NFPA has included some specific minimum requirements on the
High Rise buildings. Given below are some of the requirements that have surfaced specifically for
high rise buildings.
An auxiliary power supply to the electric motor of each fire pump is required. High Rise Buildings
may require pumps to generate excessive pressures and sometimes this may require pumps to
operate in series. The question is whether the pumps operating in series shall be on the same level
or should they be on different levels. Having pumps at different levels will ensure that the suction
pressure of pump in upper zone will be lesser. There are also some critical disadvantages on placing
the pumps at different levels. In case the pump at lower level fails to operate then the pump at
upper level will cavitate. The communication between people controlling the two stations in
emergency will be very difficult. It is recommended that three pumps can be put in series but all the
pumps shall be in a single room and access is required through external door or 2 hr fire rated
passage.
Water at fixtures should get a minimum pressure of 1.5 to 2 bar for the smooth flow. The higher
limit of the pressure on these fixtures is 5 bar. A standing height of around 30 m (ie 6 to 8 floors)
can add 3 bar static pressure to the lowest level. In a single zone 30m height wherein pumps
maintain a pressure of 2 bar at the highest floor, the pressure at the lowest level in the zone will be
5 bar. Therefore in a high rise building the zone needs to be formed after every 30m (or so) height.
Pressure reducing valves play an important role in High Rise Buildings. The flow to each 30m Zone
from the main riser passes through a pressure reducing valve so that pressure at the highest level in
the zone is limited to 2 bar.
Different kinds of pipes, fittings in the main risers have varying pressure sustaining capability. Based
on this capability a limit is imposed and the maximum height that can be covered by single riser. In
such a scenario it becomes necessary to break the pressures by putting intermediate break pressure
tanks.
To allow the air purge to happen the horizontal piping in each zone can be done on floor below the
topmost zone so that the air gets purged from the taps of the topmost floor.
4.2. Pressure Boosting – One of the Multiple Pumps on VFD vs Dedicated VFD on each Pump
It is very common to use Pressure Boosters to boost the water from lower level to higher levels in a
high rise building. Conventionally constant speed pump boosters were used with large size of
pressure vessels but recently the trend has changed to energy efficient Variable speed pumping. It
has been a common practice to use Variable Speed Drive only on one of the multiple running
pumps. This approach has certain limitations and it is recommended for the reasons below that all
the pumps shall be on Variable Speed.
1. It is very common that engineers consider a 10 t0 15% safety factor while defining pump head
for the boosters. This ultimately would mean that a pump selected for 100 m will actually end
5.2. When Heat Exchangers are used in the recirculation circuit then Pressure reducing valves can
be avoided from the recirculation loop and single larger pump for bigger water recirculation
can be employed. For individual zones recirculation pumps of fractional horsepower can be
used.
6. Drainage – Venting
6.1. Waste water drainage pipes are not only required to deal with water but also air that is
entrapped in it. When the water flows down in the pipes then air needs to fill the space that
water has left otherwise the pockets of vacuum create nuisance in the flow. Appropriate
venting becomes critical in such a scenario.
High rise buildings are most susceptible to problems associated with improper venting. It
becomes necessary that a vent stack is made to run parallel to the drainage pipes so that the
drainage pipes are suitably vented at right places. In case multiple fixtures are used close to
7. Conclusion
While increasing height of the buildings is imposing greater challenges for the designers but
increasing capabilities of designers and products is making it possible for us to reach greater heights.
Mr. Satnam Singh is BE Mechanical Engineer and has done his PGDBM in Marketing & Finance.
In his 15 years of experience in Industry he has worked on many of the building services
disciplines and has thorough involvement in Hydraulics, HVAC & Treatment subjects. He has
been highly successful in understanding new technologies and presenting it to industry for
successful incorporation. In his career he has worked on applications like Clear and Waste
Water Pumping, Treatment, Piping, Off Peak Cooling, Ventilation, Chilled Beams and so on.
Mr. Satnam has been involved in Xylem products from year 2001 through its channel partner.
He has joined Xylem directly from Year 2012 and is heading Building Services business of Xylem
in India. He can be contacted on his email id satnam.singh@xyleminc.com