PIPENET VISION

TRAINING MANUAL
TRANSIENT MODULE

CHAPTER 9

MODELING DRY FIREWATER SYSTEMS

Revision 2.5, September 2017

PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 1 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017

1. INTRODUCTION: ............................................................................................................................................................ 2

2. PRELIMINARY DATA: ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

3. THE NETWORK: ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

4. EXAMPLES: .................................................................................................................................................................... 7

4.1 EXAMPLE 1: DRY DELUGE SYSTEM WITH ALL PIPES GOING UP – DELUGE VALVE OPENING CASE ................................. 7
4.2 EXAMPLE 2: DRY DELUGE SYSTEM WITH SOME PIPES GOING UP AND SOME PIPES GOING DOWN – DELUGE VALVE
OPENING CASE......................................................................................................................................................................... 12
4.3 EXAMPLE 3: FLOODED FIREWATER RINGMAIN AND DRY DELUGE SYSTEM – GRAVITY FEED FROM TANK ................. 14
4.4 EXAMPLE 4: FLOODED FIREWATER RINGMAIN AND DRY DELUGE SYSTEM – FIRE PUMP START UP CASE .................. 16
4.5 EXAMPLE 5: DRY FIREWATER RINGMAIN AND DRY DELUGE SYSTEM – FIRE PUMP START UP CASE ........................... 23
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 2 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017

1. Introduction:

Certification authorities and operating companies are becoming more demanding in modelling dry
firewater systems accurately. PIPENET Transient module can provide the solution to this simulation
requirement which is complex. For example, if we take a dry deluge system the pipes will get primed
one by one and the nozzles will begin to discharge water at different times. Furthermore, during the
initial priming phase all the items in the system would interact with each other. For example when water
begins to discharge through one nozzle it will affect the flowrate through the other nozzles which are
already discharging water. This in turn would affect the priming time.

In offshore firewater systems there are two parts of the system which are usually dry and they need to be
modelled for different reasons. (i) The riser pipe from the fire pump impeller (commonly called caisson)
is dry during the quiescent state of the system. This often has an air release valve and overboard dump
valve in order to mitigate the possibility of pressure surges. This modelling has been done in PIPENET
for several years because potentially such a system can lead to high pressure surges. (ii) Typically all
the deluge systems will also be dry until a deluge valve opens. Here usually the main objective is to
estimate the priming time of the deluge system from the detection of the fire.

In this chapter we consider both parts of the system which could be dry. In the first two examples, the
dry deluge system is considered on its own. The third example considers a dry deluge system with a
flooded firewater ringmain which is fed from a high level tank. Example 4 is a dry deluge system with a
flooded firewater ringmain, with the ringmain pressure being maintained by a jockey pump. Example 5 is
a completely dry system with both the firewater ringmain and the deluge system being dry.

Please note that the examples in this section are not realistic cases. They have been developed
specifically for training and for illustrating the basic principles.

2. Preliminary Data:
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 3 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 4 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 5 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 6 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017

3. The Network:

Please remember to input the network in the same sequence as shown in the schematic. Otherwise, it
would be more difficult to input the attributes later on.
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 7 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017

4. EXAMPLES:
4.1 EXAMPLE 1: DRY DELUGE SYSTEM WITH ALL PIPES GOING UP – DELUGE
VALVE OPENING CASE

Please input the network as shown above. Then input the pipe and nozzle specifications as follows:
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 8 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 9 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 10 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 11 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 12 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
4.2 EXAMPLE 2: DRY DELUGE SYSTEM WITH SOME PIPES GOING UP AND SOME
PIPES GOING DOWN – DELUGE VALVE OPENING CASE

All data other than the data for some pipes are the same as the first case. The dialog box below shows
the data which is different.
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 13 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 14 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
Explain why nozzle 7 has a higher steady state flowrate than nozzle 1.

4.3 EXAMPLE 3: FLOODED FIREWATER RINGMAIN AND DRY DELUGE SYSTEM –

GRAVITY FEED FROM TANK
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 15 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 16 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
4.4 EXAMPLE 4: FLOODED FIREWATER RINGMAIN AND DRY DELUGE SYSTEM –
FIRE PUMP START UP CASE
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 17 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 18 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 19 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 20 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 21 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 22 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 23 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
4.5 EXAMPLE 5: DRY FIREWATER RINGMAIN AND DRY DELUGE SYSTEM – FIRE
PUMP START UP CASE
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 24 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 25 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 26 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017
PIPENET VISION TRAINING MANUAL TRANSIENT: CHAPTER 9
Page 27 of 27 REVISION 2.5, SEP 2017

Closing Remarks:

In this chapter we have seen how to model dry fire protection systems. The systems have ranged from
simple deluge systems to complete systems all the way from the submersible fire pumps to spray
nozzles. We also saw how to model a flooded fire water ringmain system which takes water from a high
level tank. Finally the last example shows how to model a completely dry system in which the ringmain
and deluge system are both dry; the riser pipe above the submersible fire pump is partially filled with
water while the rest of the system is dry.