How To Hydraulic Calculate A Fire Sprinkler System

2023/3/16 上午11:43 How to hydraulic calculate a fire sprinkler system
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How to hydraulic calculate a fire sprinkler

system
Hydraulic calculations for fire protection engineers
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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.
This article will demonstrate some of the basics for carrying out
fire sprinkler calculations by the long-hand method with a
scientific calculator or our own hydraulic calculator - Hcal2,
which you can freely download from our website.
In this example, we will use three sprinklers and three pipes

which would of course be part of a much larger fire sprinkler
system. These basic procedures can also be used for
calculating many other types of systems such as fire hydrants,
hose reels or the discharge from a water cannon or monitor we
can also use the same principle for almost all other water-
based fire protection systems as long as we have a k-factor for
the output device (fire sprinkler, water mist nozzle and so on).
In this example, will we use a very simple system with just three
sprinklers and three pipes. this is often called a range pipe or
branch pipe, which is part of a larger 'tree system'. A tree
system is 'end feed', that is, water is only fed from one direction
as opposed to a grid or loop system when water may arrive at
the sprinkler head from more than one direction.
Below is a diagram of the three sprinklers and pipes, which we

will calculate. We have dimensioned the pipe lengths and
given each junction point a unique node reference number
which we use throughout the calculations.
https://canutesoft.com/hydraulic-calculation-for-fire-protection-engineers/how-to-calculate-a-fire-sprinkler-system?msclkid=1b6b70caaf9411ecaba… 1/7
For each pipe, we need to know the pipe length, internal

diameter (ID) of the pipe and the pipe material so we can
determine the pipe c-factor, the table below summarises the
pipe data which we will need for the calculation for this
example:
Node Ref Pipe Size ID (mm) Length (m) C-factor
130-120 27.30 3.20 120
120-110 27.30 3.20 120
110-100 36.00 3.20 120
We will also we will need some additional information, such as

the type of sprinkler head, the area each head is covering, and
the design density for each sprinkler head in the system.
For this example, we will use the following design parameters:
design density: 7.50 mm/min

sprinkler head: K-factor of 70 with a minimum pressure of
0.5 bar
head area: 10.20 m2
In this example, we have kept it very simple and used the same
sprinkler head for all three sprinklers, but this may not always
be the case, so again it may be useful to summarise the
information in a table such as this:
Node Design Sprinkler k- Sprinkler Head area

Ref Density factor minimum (m2)
(mm/min) pressure
(Bar)
130 7.50 70 0.5 10.20
120 7.50 70 0.5 10.20
110 7.5 70 0.5 10.20
The first step is to calculate the minimum flow which will be

required at the most remote sprinkler, which in this case is at
node [130], this is a two-step process as will need to calculate
the minimum flow required to satisfy the 7.50 mm/min design
density and then find the flow rate from the sprinkler given the
sprinklers minimum pressure requirement, whichever is the
greater flow will become our initial flow from the first sprinkler at
node [130].
We will first calculate the flow given the design density of 7.50
mm/min and the area the head is covering, we do this by
multiplying the design density by the head area:
Equation 1:
1
q = (design density) x (area per sprinkler)
In this example, this gives:
q1 = 7.50 mm/min x 10.20 m2 = 76.50 L/min
The second step is to calculate the minimum flow from the

sprinkler given the K-Factor and the minimum head pressure
by using the standard K-Factor formula:
Equation 2:
q = kp0.5
Where
p = the required pressure

q = the required flow from the first sprinkler
k = the discharge coefficient of the sprinkler (k-factor)
In this example, this gives:
q = 70 x 0.50.5 = 49.50 L/min
By comparing the two calculations above, we can see that the

minimum flow required from the sprinkler head will be 76.50
L/min as this is the highest flow rate from the two calculations
and is required to meet the 7.50 mm/min design density. We
can also see that the minimum sprinkler pressure of 0.5 bar is
not sufficient to produce the required flow rate, so the next step
will be to determine what pressure will be required to produce
the required flow of 76.50 L/min at the first sprinkler head at
node [130] we can do this by using equation 3.
Equation 3
p = (q/k)2
In the example, this gives:
p = (76.50 / 70)0.5 = 1.194 bar
We have determined the minimum pressure and flow for the

first sprinkler at node [130], which will be 76.50 L/min @ 1.19 bar.
The next step is to calculate the pressure drop in the pipe
between node [130] and [120], and for this, we will use the Hazen
Williams pressure loss formula.
Equation 4
Where
p = pressure loss in bar per meter

Q = flow through the pipe in L/min
C = friction loss coefficient

d = internal diameter of the pipe in mm
We know that the flow rate from the sprinkler at node [130] is
76.50 L/min, and this will be the flow rate in the first pipe
between nodes [130]-[120]. As the pipe has an internal
diameter of 27.30 mm and a C value of 120, this will give us:
The pressure loss in the first pipe is 0.027 bar/m, and the total
pressure loss in the pipe is 0.086 bar.
We now need to add the pressure loss in the pipe to the start
pressure at the sprinkler head at node [130] which was 1.19 bar
to find to pressure at node [120] and at the seconded sprinkler
head at node [120] this gives us 1.194 + 0.086 = 1.28 bar.
The next step is to find the flow from the seconded sprinkler
head at node [120] to do this we will use the K-Factor formula
Equation 5
This gives 70 x 1.2800.5 = 79.20 L/min from the sprinkler head at

node [120], which we now add to the flow in the first pipe node
[130]-[120] to find the total flow in the second pipe [120]-[110] to
find the total flow in the seconded pipe which is 155.70 L/min.
Having found the total flow in the seconded pipe [120]-[110] we

can now find the pressure loss in, to do this we will use the
Hazen-Williams pressure loss, formula 4 which we used above
this gives us:
We now add the pressure loss 0.317 bar to the pressure at node
[120] to find the pressure at node [110] this give us: 0.317 + 1.280
= 1.597 bar
We now need to find the flow from the sprinkler at node [110].
We do this by using the k-factor given in equation 5 as we now
know the pressure at node [110] is 1.597 bar, this gives 70 x
1.5970.5 = 88.50 L/min from the sprinkler head at node [110]. We
now add this flow to the flow in the second pipe [120]-[110] to
find the total flow in the third pipe [110]-[100], which will give us
a flow of 244.20 L/min.
The last step is to find the pressure loss in the third pipe [110]-
[100], and again we will use the Hazen-Williams pressure loss
formula given in formula 4 above. However, the last pipe has an
internal diameter of 36.0 mm, so this gives us the following:
We now add the pressure loss in this pipe to the pressure at

node [110] to find the pressure at node [100]. This will be 0.189 +
1.597 = 1.786 bar. We have now completed the calculation for
all three sprinkler heads and have found the source pressure
and flow required for this system is:
244.20 L/min @ 1.786 Bar
This pressure and flow is often referred to as the source

required for the system and is the minimum pressure and flow
required for the system for it to be able to provide the required
design density (in this example, 7.50 mm/min) at the most
remote head [MRH] at node [130].
You should also be able to see that only the Most Remote Head
has the minimum requirement of 7.50 mm/min design density,
and all the other sprinklers will have a higher pressure as they
are hydraulically closer to the water source, so they will have
higher pressure and will discharge more water through the
sprinkler this can be seen in the table below:
Node min Design Pressure Flow from Head Actual

Ref Density (Bar) sprinkler Area Design
(mm/min) (L/min) (m2) Density
130 7.50 1.194 76.50 10.20 7.50

[MRH]
120 7.50 1.280 79.20 10.20 7.76
130 7.50 1.597 88.50 10.20 8.68
Sprinkler calculation step by step
1. Calculate minimum flow from the MRH with the sprinkler

minimum pressure and k-factor
2. Calculate the minimum flow given the system design
density and sprinkler head area.
3. If the calculation in step 2 is the highest flow demand,
calculate the required head pressure; otherwise, we can
use the minimum sprinkler pressure in step 1.
4. Calculate the pressure loss in the pipe.
5. Add the head pressure to the pressure loss in step 4 to
determine the pressure at the next sprinkler.
6. Use the k-factor formula to determine the flow from the
sprinkler head.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 until you do not have any more
sprinklers or pipes.
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2023/3/16 上午11:43 How to hydraulic calculate a fire sprinkler system

How to hydraulic calculate a fire sprinkler

This article, 'How to calculate a

In this example, we will use three sprinklers and three pipes

Below is a diagram of the three sprinklers and pipes, which we

For each pipe, we need to know the pipe length, internal

Node Ref Pipe Size ID (mm) Length (m) C-factor

130-120 27.30 3.20 120

120-110 27.30 3.20 120

110-100 36.00 3.20 120

We will also we will need some additional information, such as

For this example, we will use the following design parameters:

design density: 7.50 mm/min

Node Design Sprinkler k- Sprinkler Head area

130 7.50 70 0.5 10.20

120 7.50 70 0.5 10.20

110 7.5 70 0.5 10.20

The first step is to calculate the minimum flow which will be

In this example, this gives:

q1 = 7.50 mm/min x 10.20 m2 = 76.50 L/min

The second step is to calculate the minimum flow from the

p = the required pressure

In this example, this gives:

q = 70 x 0.50.5 = 49.50 L/min

By comparing the two calculations above, we can see that the

In the example, this gives:

p = (76.50 / 70)0.5 = 1.194 bar

We have determined the minimum pressure and flow for the

p = pressure loss in bar per meter

C = friction loss coefficient

This gives 70 x 1.2800.5 = 79.20 L/min from the sprinkler head at

Having found the total flow in the seconded pipe [120]-[110] we

We now add the pressure loss in this pipe to the pressure at

244.20 L/min @ 1.786 Bar

This pressure and flow is often referred to as the source

Node min Design Pressure Flow from Head Actual

130 7.50 1.194 76.50 10.20 7.50

120 7.50 1.280 79.20 10.20 7.76

130 7.50 1.597 88.50 10.20 8.68

Sprinkler calculation step by step

1. Calculate minimum flow from the MRH with the sprinkler

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t: +44 (0) 113 328 0350

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