Hydraulics of Fire Protection

A fundamental knowledge of hydraulics is indispensable to the fire protection engineer. It facilitates an understanding of municipal water supplies as well as private water supplies- such as gravity tanks, fire pumps etc.- leading to a projection of available flow and pressure at certain points in the distribution system.

Hydraulic design of automatic sprinkler and standpipe systems enables hydraulic demand to be determined- typically over the ‘design area’ / hypothetical fire. This can then be compared with the available flow and pressure at a fixed point in the system to determine if the supply flow and pressure exceeds demand.

In this presentation Boris Turishev will cover flow through nozzles, hydrants, friction loss as well as elevation losses in various systems with a brief overview of hydraulic analysis/design of fire protection systems.

Fire protection engineers will come out of this presentation with a better understanding of hydraulics and how this knowledge can be applied to various fire protection problems.

Presented by:

Boris Turishev, M.Eng., P.Eng., CP, MBA

Building Policy Engineer, Office of the Chief Building Official

Development, Building & Licensing, City of Vancouver

Boris Turishev graduated from the Belarus National Technical University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and also earned a Master of Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland in 2008. Boris began his professional carrier in Canadian construction industry as a fire sprinkler designer and project manager in the private sector. After becoming an experienced sprinkler designer, Boris joined a local consulting company where he applied building and fire codes in a variety of industrial, commercial, residential and institutional projects. He produced technical reports and analysis, developed performance-based solutions including complex fire and evacuation modeling, liaised acceptance of these solutions with local, provincial and federal Authorities Having Jurisdictions. Following consulting, Boris joined the City of Vancouver as a Building Policy Engineer. As a Building Policy Engineer, Boris is involved in the development and implementation of policies associated with the requirements of the City of Vancouver Building By-law and other applicable codes, standards and regulations.