HYDRAULICS IN THE FIRE SERVICE

Objectives

 To understand the behaviour of water in relation to the operation of fire service equipment.
• To make informed decisions concerning the supply and delivery of water in the dynamic
arena of the fire ground.
• To make effective arrangements for the provision of water supplies at the pre – planning
stage.
Introduction:
• The term hydraulics refers to the study of water both when it is in motion and when it is at
rest.
Properties of water
• Water when pure is a colourless, odourless liquid with a molecular composition of two atoms
of hydrogen combined with one atom of oxygen (H₂o)
• One litre of water has a mass of one kilogram which is for all practical purposes 1000l =
1000kg or 1 tonne.
• 1000 litres has a mass of 1000 kg or 1 tonne
• Weight (downward force exerted by gravity) of a body depend on its mass.
• Weight = mass x gravity where m is mass and g(gravity) and in newton (1l = 10 newton) 1 x
9.81 =9.81 n
• Pure water has a freezing point of 0° and a boiling point of 100° at normal atmospheric
pressure.
• Between these temperatures at atmospheric pressure, therefore, water exists as a liquid and
exhibits all the characteristics of a fluid.
• As a liquid, water has a volume but is incapable of resisting change of shape, i.e, when
poured into a container it will adjust itself irrespective of the shape of the latter, and will
come to rest with a level surface.
Water; of the degree of purity, likely to be used for fire fighting purposes, is a reasonably
good conductor of electricity and therefore great care should be taken to prevent fire fighting
streams from coming into contact with the electrical equipment.

Principal characteristics of pressure

• The Si unit of pressure is the newton per square meter and another name is the Pascal.
• However in the fire service it has been decided that because this is a very small unit, the unit
of pressure will be the bar.

• The relationship between these units is: 1 bar =100 000 n/m 2 or 105 m2

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 Rules Governing The Characteristics Of Pressure

• The pressure exerted by a fluid at rest is always at right angles to the surface of the vessel
which contains it.
• The pressure at any point in a fluid at rest is the same in all directions.
• Downward pressure of a fluid in an open vessel is proportional to its depth.
• The downward pressure of a fluid in an open vessel is proportional to the density of the fluid.
The downward pressure of a fluid on the bottom of a vessel is independent of the shape of
that vessel
Relationship Between Pressure And Head For Water

• It has been stated that the pressure of a liquid contained in an open vessel is proportional to
both the depth and its density.
• P=HpG ( p) is pressure,(h) is head/depth, (g) is gravity
P
• P=H x 1000 x 9.81 n/m2 = p = 0.0981 x H bars = H = m
0.0981
H
• Formulae is P =
10

Loss Of Pressure Due To Friction

• Is the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another.
• It is the force that opposes the motion of an object
• When water flows through a hose, there is a gradual loss of pressure resulting from the need
to overcome the frictional resistance which exists between the moving water stream and the
internal surface of the hose.
Significance
• When water is drawn from hydrants on small diameter mains.
• When pumping water over long distances by means of water relay.
• On fire ground when small diameter hose is used.
• Although it is difficult to accurately estimate the loss due to friction, however, it is important
to know which physical factors are most significant in determining friction loss, so that due
allowance may be made for them in the types of situations listed above.

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 Laws Governing Loss Of Pressure Due To Friction

• Pf is directly proportional to the length (l) of hose through which the water flows.
• Frictional loss is directly proportional to a quantity called the friction factor for the hose
(roughness of its inside surface.)
• Pf is directly proportional to the square of the flow rate.

The Friction Loss Formulae

• For fire fighters situations, where the highest accuracy is not required, the most useful
relationship brings together the four proportionality statements given above and can be
summarized thus:
• Pf = 9000 flL²
d⁵
In which (f) is friction factor, (pᵳ) the pressure loss in bars,( l) the length of the hose in
metres, (L)the flow rate in litres per minute and d the hose diameter in millimetres.

The Changes Of Energy In Water

 When water flows through channels such as nozzles, couplings,venturi,

 Changes in velocity and pressure occur.

 This brings us to the four types of energies involved;

 Kinetic: energy which the water has because of its velocity.

 Potential: energy which the water has because of its height above a fixed reference
point such as an outlet or pump.

 Pressure: the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over
which that force is distributed.

 Heat: because of friction, heat energy is created at the expense of pressure when water flows
through a line of hose, though it will be difficult to detect any increase in the temperature of
the water.

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 Flow Through Nozzles

• A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction of a fluid flow

• Especially to increase velocity, as it exits an enclosed chamber or hose.
• The relationship between the velocity of the jet, v, and the original

• Pressure, p, is: v = 14.14p and the number of litres per minute discharged,
2
• L, is given by : L = d²p
3

Note: this formula cannot be applied to diffuser and jet/spray type of nozzles because the
water is not discharged through a simple circular section.

Jet Reaction

• When water is projected from a nozzle, a reaction equal and opposite to the force of the jet
takes place at the nozzle.
• The latter tends to recoil in the opposite direction to the flow.
• The fire fighter holding the branch must exert sufficient effort to overcome this reaction.
• The whole reaction takes place as the water leaves the nozzle.
• Thus whether a jet held by a fire fighter on a ladder strikes a wall or not is immaterial to his
stability on the ladder, which is governed solely by the reaction of the nozzle.
• Formulae of jet reaction is:
R = 0.157pd² where d is diameter

Water Power and Efficiency

• Power produced by the movement of water, used to drive machinery.

• Energy created per minute.
• When water passes through a pump its total energy is increased because energy is applied
from an external source, i.e. the engine which drives the pump.

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• As the kinetic energy of the water is small, both on entering and exiting the pump, the newly
acquired energy is almost entirely in the form of pressure.
100 LP
• Formulae: WP = where WP is water power in watts, L is the flow rate
60
in litres; P is increase in pressure between inlet and outlet in bars.
• Water power is measured in watts or kilowatts
• 1000 watts = 1kilowatt

Efficiency

• The quality of doing something well without wasting time.

Some of the energy supplied to drive the pump will, be converted to heat so it is therefore not
100% efficient in its ability to convert the brake power supplied by the engine into water
power.
• This is because of internal turbulence.
• Formulae :
• Efficiency = useful power delivered by the machine
Power required driving the machine

℘
E= BP
¿
¿
» Because it is more convenient to express efficiency in percentage terms, this formula is
usually written as:
℘
» E= x 100
BP

Water Hammer
• When the flow of water through a hose is stopped very quickly.
• When a moving object, such as a vehicle, or water, undergoes a change in velocity the force
(f) required to accelerate or decelerate it depends on its mass (m), its velocity (v) and the time
(t) in which the change in velocity takes place.
Formulae
MV
• The relationship is ; F =
T

• Where f is measured in newton, m in kilograms, v in metres per second and t in seconds

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• The implication of the formula is that the force required to bring an object to rest depends
inversely on the braking time, the shorter the time the greater the force exerted.
• Thus if a vehicle is brought to rest in 0.1 seconds as a result of a collision the braking force
will be 100 times greater than if it is brought to rest in 10 seconds as a result of normal
braking.
• There are a number of situations where the time taken to terminate the flow of a substantial
mass of water, moving with considerable velocity, may be short and damaging the
equipment, this include:
Rapid shutting down of a branch
• Even though fire service hose is flexible and therefore able to absorb much of the kinetic
energy of water, damage to couplings and may also occur to pumps and collecting heads.
• Some pumps have a small pressure relief channel in the non – return valve on the suction side
of the pump to give protection to the collecting head against water hammer.
Rapid closure of the hydrant to tank
• This may cause the main on which the hydrant is situated to fracture.
Damage is most likely to occur when the main is of small diameter with a high velocity of
flow.
Indication
These above examples indicates the necessity for slowly closing hydrants, shut off type
branches and other valves in order to avoid water hammer which might burst hose and
damage couplings, pumps, collecting heads, tanks and water mains.

HYDRAULIC FORMULAE
2
 Capacity of pond = x surface area x average depth
3

 Capacity of circular tank = 800d²h

8d ²
 Capacity of hose =
10000
d²
 Per 25m length =
50

 Velocity of falling object = V=gt

1> ²
 Distance through which body fall H=
2
20 L
 Velocity and discharge = V =
d²

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  Area of a circle = A=π r 2

2 contained angle
 Sector of a circle = π r
360

 Curved surface of a cone = π r 2 √ r 2 +h2

 Hexagon = 2.6x ( side¿ ¿ 2

 Curved surface of a cylinder ¿ 2 π r h

VOLUMES
• Sloping tank = length x breadth x average depth

• Circular tank ¿ π r 2x depth

3
4πr
• Sphere ¿ 3