BES322049

Design and Calculation of Fire Sprinkler Systems in

Revit Per NFPA and Other Standards
Rob Smith
Johnson Controls - Fire Suppression Products

Mayank Sharma
Johnson Controls – Fire Suppression Products

Learning Objectives
 Learn how to perform hydraulic calcs on any Revit fire protection system using
SprinkCALC software directly from the Revit model
 Discover the difference between standard Revit tools and the SprinkCAD for Revit
suite of tools for FP designers and engineers
 Learn how to create Revit Families of sprinklers, valves, fittings, hangers, and more
with the SprinkCAD Family Builder
 Learn how to quickly connect arrays of sprinklers to a main pipe with multiple
branches and variable armovers, including flexible drops

Description
Got CALC? In Revit? If you’re a fire protection engineer working in Revit, you need to run
industry-standard hydraulic calculations and reports.

Design your system in native Revit without any third-party tools, or with anyone’s third-party
tools. You can calculate any Revit fire protection system using SprinkCAD’s SprinkCALC
software for water-based sprinkler systems. Standards supported include NFPA 13 and 14,
EN12845, BS5306, CEA4001, AS2118.1, NZS4541, and FM DS03. Also supported are fluid
delivery time calculations for dry-pipe systems—so you can be sure about when the water will
be there.

We’ll also display the new SprinkCAD for Revit tools, including:
 Revit Family Builder, letting you create complex families in seconds without any
knowledge of RFA construction
 Head-Connection tools for fast drawing of sprigs and drops, armovers, and flex piping
 Auto-Branch generator for creating entire ranges of branches with or without armovers.

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Speakers

Rob Smith is a Software Engineer/Analyst with Johnson Controls, specializing in Water-Based

Fire Protection Systems.

Rob began his fire protection career as a system designer in the Los Angeles area of California
in 1980, and eventually moved into a software support role with the SprinkCAD group in 1996.
Soon after, he moved to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region where he has been ever since.
Rob has always enjoyed sprinkler system hydraulics, and even performed hand-calculations of
complex gridded systems early in his career.

In his Support role, Rob has taught hundreds of classes and has helped countless designers
better understand the intricacies of AutoCAD, sprinkler system design, sprinkler hydraulics, and
SprinkCAD software.

Married 36 years with 4 children (3 married) and 3 grand-children, Rob loves to bowl, toss a
Frisbee, Disc Golf, play Scrabble, and generally relax!

robert.5.smith@jci.com

Mayank Sharma joined Johnson Controls tech innovations group in September 2018 as a
Mechanical Engineer. He currently is the main Subject Matter Expert – Analyst for a software
team currently working on the Forge API.

His journey as an engineer started at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, where he

obtained his bachelor’s in Mechanical with honors. Following his passion for core competencies
and to seek challenge he joined THRUST master’s program, where he earned two master’s
degrees in two years’ time, studying on two different continents. He specialized in
Turbomachinery and Aeromechanics during his time at KTH, Stockholm and Duke University.

Now he seeks to apply his diverse experience and a different perspective to solving problems
associated with the Fire Suppression Industry.

mayank.3.sharma@jci.com

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Introduction
Fire protection system design of water-based systems for residential, commercial, or any of a
dozen special hazards applications, generally requires the production of hydraulic calculations
in accordance with a recognized standard such as NFPA 13 (National Fire Protection
Association’s “Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems”) or EN12845 (European
Committee for Standardization’s “Fixed firefighting systems – Automatic sprinkler systems…”).
While based on the mathematical analysis of the fluid moving through the piping and
discharging through sprinklers , hoses, and other devices, these standards require specific
formulae be applied with specific adjustments for pipe types, fittings, and valves. They also
require, or at least suggest strongly, the use of specific print formats for the reports.

Some would argue that the math and methods used by these standards in this industry is
outdated, but the safety factors built into these approaches and the familiarity of those who use
and approve these documents makes it unlikely that a ‘modern’ hydraulic analysis of the actual
behavior of these systems will supplant these reports any time soon. But … Please note - This
class is not designed to teach anything about these formats and formulas.

Rather, this class is intended to show that while Revit is not built to handle these industry-
specific requirements, third-party software like the one being demonstrated are. There are a
number of third-party providers of software capable of performing sprinkler hydraulics. A small
number of these are designed to operate within or as an adjunct to Revit. SprinkCAD meets
both descriptions.

In addition to demonstrating the methods used by ‘SprinkCAD for Revit’ to perform code-
compliant hydraulic calculations, other tools available within the software will be displayed.
These are tools designed to assist the fire protection system designer work effectively and
quickly within Revit, an environment which, in 2019, is relatively uncharted space for most fire
sprinkler system designers in the United States, and possibly around the globe. It is hoped that
these tools will prove helpful as well to others involved in the construction and engineering
communities that touch upon, or orbit near, fire protection piping systems.

There are generally two goals when performing hydraulic calculations of fire sprinkler systems
(hereafter just called systems). One is to minimize the sizes and costs of the piping while
maintaining a reasonable safety factor relative to the supply conditions. The other is to prepare
a set of documents for review by an authority or authorities. The documents must show the
design intent relative to the structure (building, equipment, site) and its occupancy (use,
purpose, defined requirements), and calculation output reports for representative areas.

Depending on the project and the role of the person performing these tasks, the types of pipe,
sizes of pipe, discharging devices, and source of firefighting agent may differ greatly. A Fire
Protection Engineer working on the requirements for a project may be concerned only with
hydrants on a site or standpipes and pumps, whereas a fire sprinkler system designer with an
installing contractor may need to calculate the final acceptance reports down to the most
demanding sprinkler. Some are working with water-filled piping while others are designing dry-

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pipe systems. Water might be the only suppression agent, or additional foaming agents may be
involved, or higher viscosity fluids. The software handles all these system types, and more.

The software presented herein is specifically designed for use with fluid-based fire protection for
both wet and dry systems (as opposed to dry-chemical or gaseous systems). This includes
Standpipe systems as defined by NFPA 14 and fire sprinkler systems as defined by NFPA 13.
Similar definitions exist in the other referenced codes (EN12845, BS5306, CEA4001, AS2118.1,
NZS4541, and FM DS03). Many have used this software to calculate pressures and flows for a
myriad of purposes related to these codes but not specifically referenced by them. The
principals are the same, though we make no guarantees of applicability.

An additional module allows for the calculation of the TIME required to trip a dry valve, pre-
action valve, or deluge valve and the TIME required for fluid to both reach and to attain
operating pressure at designated flowing devices under various pressures and temperatures of
both the gas and the fluid involved. This module will not be discussed further, but the essential
steps to perform those calculations are nearly identical to those presented here.

The presentation being made at Autodesk University 2019 (and this document) will focus on
commercial fire protection systems, the NFPA codes, and the Imperial unit system. Metric units
are supported, as is Residential and other system types.

SprinkCAD for Revit is a commercially-available software and there is no free or ‘lite’ version.
Please visit www.sprinkcad.com for information on our reasonably-priced offerings. This is not a
tutorial – it is a demonstration. If purchased, the software comes with both manuals and
tutorials, and additional training is available.

A final note – Our software is changing rapidly. We are adding new features constantly. This
document and these examples were created in October, 2019 (most of what is shown below did
not exist in January, 2019!). Please do not assume that this is the state of our software if
reading this at a later date.

Performing code-compliant fire protection hydraulic calculations in Revit

The required elements for performing calculations are simple. Of course, as with all examples in
this document, a valid license to run the SprinkCAD for Revit software is a prerequisite, along
with a (compatible) version of Autodesk Revit. Within the SprinkCAD for Revit install are ‘the
tools’ and the included SprinkCALC 4 software (CALC for short), the interface seen when
running calculations and printing reports.

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Required Elements

 Some preliminary data

 A connected, or nearly-connected, piping system
 One or more flowing outlets
 An identified source point

Preliminary Data

Each calculation scenario must be identified as a “Design Area”, otherwise known as

‘remote area’, ‘most remote area’, ‘least favorable area’, ‘most favorable area’, and
others, no doubt.
A Design Area specifies
o a Name for the area (mandatory)
o a default Density for the flowing outlets in the area (mandatory)
o the Wet or Dry ‘type’ of area (defaults to Wet)
o whether the calculation will be a ‘Demand’ or ‘Supply’ calculation (defaults to
Demand)
o the fluid to be used (defaults to Water at 60 degrees Fahrenheit)
o the Engine to be used (defaults to SprinkCAD)
o additional hose flows affecting the Source (optional)
o and miscellaneous data (optional)

Density requirements for the various

portions of a building will perhaps be
specified by the Project Engineer. One
tool which may assist in determining the
appropriate density and the code
sections applicable is SprinkCODE
Connect (www.sprinkcode.com).

Once a project has been created, areas

may be created within the project. An
area requires the Code to be applied,
the code section, and a commodity. For
this example, a school building, NFPA
13 2019, Commercial, Light Hazard is
selected.

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The software requests certain
information about the particulars, such
as ceiling height and construction details,
and delivers an array of design choices.

Using Quick response extended coverage heads allows an area size of 900 square feet
at a 0.10 density.

Piping System

Wouldn’t this be a fine calculation without some pipe! Yes, pipes are required, preferably
connecting the flowing outlets to the source. The program has the option to process
multiple disconnected systems into the CALC interface, but to get an immediate result,
the piping between flowing outlets and the source should be contiguous.

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The pipes in the model may be made from very complete families or may be rather non-
specific. This is because one step in the process will involve matching the pipe types in
the model to pipes in the SprinkBASE database, called Mapping. This will be covered
later.

Flowing Outlets

At the heart of a Design Area is a group of flowing outlets. Each outlet requires a unique
name, ‘Coverage’ value, and a ‘Minimum Pressure’ value. During the Mapping process,
the orifice and K Factor for sprinklers is defined.

Other types of flowing outlets include Standpipe Demand Nodes (SDN) and a couple
types of Hose nodes.

A Source

Whether the source has known flow characteristics or not, the NAME and LOCATION of
a source (or sources) must be established. Due to a limitation imposed by the CALC
program, a source point must reside at the end of a pipe that has no other pipes
connected to it. In some cases this may require the temporary disconnection of a pipe
from a tee or other fitting.

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The process

Having opened a model with a fire sprinkler system including sprinklers, pipes, valves, and a
location for a ‘source’ point, with a desire to perform hydraulic calculations acceptable to the
Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), the question may be asked: How to proceed? The answer
is simple: Quickly and easily!

Create a new Design Area

From the SprinkCAD Ribbon select the Design Areas tool

and create a new Design Area by clicking the Plus Sign.

Fill in the required and optional data as desired and

press OK.

Add a Supply Node

Also on the SprinkCAD Ribbon is the drop-list of “Add …”

items for calculations. In this list is Add Supply Ref (Ref is
short for Reference Node Point). As mentioned, the Supply
node must be placed on a fitting on the end of a pipe with no
other pipes connected to that fitting.

The data required for a Supply node is a unique name, such

as “SRC1”. The placing of the node on a fitting establishes its
location. No other information is required on the Supply node
in order to run a calculation, but if the desire is to compare the
REQUIRED flow and pressure to the AVAILABLE pressure at
the source, then a flow curve should be included in the
Source data as shown here. Supply curve data, when
provided, must include at least two data points. Each data
point is represented by a pressure at a given flow.

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Identify Flowing Outlets

In the example, a set of sprinklers in a school are being calculated. Determine which
sprinklers will be included in the Design Area and place a “Spk Ref Node” (Sprinkler
Reference Node) at each. Each flowing node requires a Coverage value and a Minimum
Pressure value.

Run the Calculation(s)

With a source node in place, and flowing outlets identified, the calculation
may proceed. Select the ‘Run SprinkCALC’ from the SprinkCAD ribbon.

Select any pipe in the system of pipes connected to the source and flowing
heads. The software highlights all pipes connected to the selected pipe
and shows the quantity along with three options – Proceed, Select additional, and
Cancel.

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When choosing to ‘Run SprinkCALC’, proceed only if the selected items include all
necessary pipes to connect the source to all flowing outlets. When ‘Send to SprinkCALC’
is used, the ‘Select additional’ allows the selection of additional, non-contiguous piping
segments to be sent into the interface. This allows for manual connecting and calculating
of systems that are not or cannot be tied together in the model.

Once all desired piping sections are included, select the ‘Yes - Proceed” option.

Select Design Areas

When there is more than one DA present in the model, a dialog offers the option to
calculate all, some, or just one of them. Place or leave checks in the boxes for those
Design Areas (DA) to be calculated, then press ‘Proceed’.

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Mapping Revit Elements to SprinkBASE

If this is the first attempt at running a calculation in this Revit model (document), a
Mapping process must be completed. As noted, this process needs only be run once in
a given model unless new elements are introduced that were not previously mapped.
Each time a model is sent to CALC there will be opportunity to revise the mapping of any
item.

Sprinklers, Pipes, Valves, and Pumps found in the model must be identified with, or
‘mapped’ to known elements containing all the parameters needed by the CALC
software. These ‘known’ elements reside in the SprinkBASE database, a fully editable
repository of parts. Not only are the items manufactured or sold by Tyco included, it is
also possible to add parts from any manufacturer, or request a file from the manufacturer
which may be loaded into your database.

The mapping interface shows the parts needing to be mapped and those already
mapped.

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The CALC Interface

Once Mapping is complete, the ‘Proceed’ button opens the CALC program. In the ‘Run
SprinkCALC’ scenario, the next screen shown is the Hydro Analysis. Data for the first
DA is immediately visible.

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Printing Reports

While there are a number of ways to review the results of a calculation in CALC, the
printed reports are the final version most used for submittals and records, whether
electronic or on paper. The ‘Print Preview’ button brings up a PDF view which may be
saved or sent to a printer. The following pages show a sample of the standard output
report which is closely patterned after NFPA 13’s recommended output.

The cover sheet has data which you may want to fill in prior to saving or printing your
report. To access these fields, use the Job Info button.

<Jump to the end of the report>

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<Jump to the start of the report copies>

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Creating Revit Families of fire protection content with the
SprinkCAD Family Manager
The Family Manager creates Revit Family content from the SprinkBASE database of parts –
even parts added to the database by you. Add only the parts needed for the project or create
super-families containing hundreds of types. Without any knowledge of how to build
families!

The process is simple.

 Select the parts within a category or ‘generic type’ desired for a given family.
 Provide a name for the family.
 Build and load the new family into a project.
Built content remains available in the program for reuse in other projects. Updated content
warns that a rebuild is needed.

These families are lightweight, using the minimum number of primitives (base shapes) to deliver
a reasonable representation of the object in fine detail without excessive drag on Revit’s
graphics engine.

Note that all families are built with appropriate connectors in place for connections to pipe and
other valves & fittings. Elbow families may be made from ells of varying bend angles so that
they ‘flex’ appropriately when using bend angles consistent with fire protection fittings and
practices.

Below are a few samples.

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Sprinklers

Valves

Fittings

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The difference between standard Revit tools and the SprinkCAD suite of
tools for FP designers and engineers
There are, at this time in Revit’s development, still tasks that need to be done by the Fire
Protection designer which are just not easy in the Revit interface. Connecting a sloping branch
line to a sloping cross-main is one good example. Those familiar with Revit will invariably create
new section views to perform any adjustment to complex vertical piping arrangements, but
some are nearly impossible – without help.

SprinkCAD for Revit tools are designed for the fire protection engineer and work in just about
any view, including 3D views.

The following example shows a 4” Sched 10 sloping pipe (called the ‘target’ pipe) with three
other pipes (called the ‘connecting’ pipes) wanting to be tied into it. The three connecting pipes
are: another sloping 4” Sched 10 pipe; a 2-1/2” Sched 10 sloping pipe; and a 2” Sched 40 pipe
running over the top, flat, but at an intersecting angle. The next three images show a 3D view, a
plan view, and a section view of their arrangement before using the “Pipes to Pipe” tool.

3D view:

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Plan view:

Section view:

The Pipes to Pipe tool allows for either 90 degree or 45 degree ells when an intersecting pipe
(of the ‘connecting pipes’) does not cross over the ‘target’ pipe.

When one or more of the connecting pipes cross

over the target pipe (as with the 2” Sched 40 pipe
in this example), a Tee connection is needed on
the connecting pipe. Essentially all connections
to the target pipe will require tees.

The most important aspect of this tool is that

regardless of the angles and slopes of the
connecting pipes and target pipe, perpendicular
connections are made wherever tees are used,
and the 90 or 45 degree ells will be created at 90
or 45 degrees to the connecting pipes’ axes.

When the Pipes to Pipe command is launched,

the dialog at right is shown.

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This image shows the result of selecting the three connecting pipes and the target pipe with 90
degree ells.

This section view shows that the new 90-ell connecting pipes are not ‘vertical’ due to the slopes
involved.

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Now the 45 degree ells option will be selected, the ‘riser nipple’ pipe will be increased to 2-1/2”,
and a specific pipe type will be selected for the riser nipple piece.

The image below shows the contents of

the Connecting Pipe drop-list used to
select the riser nipple pipe type at left.
The list is populated with the available
pipe types in the model.

Here is the result from those selections. Note the 45 degree fittings and the larger diameter of
the riser nipple piece.

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Another scenario many designers have faced is the need to create a ‘rolling offset’ of a known
length and angle or to a set of specific offset values. This becomes more complicated in Revit
when dealing with sloping pipes as well. ‘Pipe Jog Around’ tool to the rescue!

The dialog allows entry of either angle-distance or vertical-horizontal values. Either will
recalculate the other.

Direct selection of start and end points on pipes is allowed, or the distance from the picked end
and the length of the offset may be specified. Consistent with fire protection design practices,
the values are interpreted as ‘center-to-center’.

In the example shown, the rise on the left (of the top view) will be 24” center from the left end of
the pipe (the pipe was picked upon nearer the left end) and the return drop will be 48” center-to
center away. These dimensions are accurate along the slope of the pipe, not on the XY plane.

Dialog: Left view:

Top view:

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Connecting sprinklers to pipe – various means
Heads on pipes, heads on sprigs or drops, flex drops, arm-overs, return bends, and branch lines
are the stuff a fire sprinkler designer’s dreams are made of.

Sprinklers On Pipe

A relatively simple task – place sprinklers along a length of pipe at regular intervals. Now throw
in sprig nipples, sloping pipe, and options for custom connection fittings, a specific number of
sprinklers, and a specific distance from an end fitting (center-to-center, of course).

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Auto Branch

A not-so-simple task … A main pipe location has been selected and there are a large number of
sprinklers placed in their necessary locations.

Auto Branch is a multi-faceted command which will connect groups of sprinklers to an existing
pipe by way of sprigs, drops, arm-overs, return bends, and branch lines, in seconds.

The options above will create 1” drops (not the ½” nipples Revit delivers when connecting a
sprinkler to a branch pipe) of the selected pipe type and 1-1/2” branch pipes to 2” riser nipples.

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And on the way there, options to redistribute the branch lines based on minimum and maximum
arm-over lengths will be available.

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Seconds later …

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Now with flex drops on return bends with the branch pipes on drop nipples - just by making a
couple minor adjustments to the dialog.

The ‘Use Flex Pipe’ option is on, and the return bend solution (second large graphic). These are
interchangeable. When the return bend solution is selected, a third element (Segment C) is
active. All other options remain the same, and the branch line solution is also unchanged.

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The result contains an odd pipe arrangement where the two upright sprinklers are located, but
these are easily adjusted using other piping tools on the SprinkCAD ribbon.

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There are more tools to see but not time to show them this year at Autodesk University 2019.

Visit www.sprinkcad.com for more information and answers to any questions.

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