Table Of Contentfire service hydraulics
SECOND EDITION
EDITED BY
JAM ES F. CASEY
Editor (retired), Fire Engineering
SecondEditionCopyright, 1970The ReubenH. DonneUeyCorporation
First EditionCopyright, 1941Case-Shepperd-MannPublishingCorporation
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INTRODUCTION TO
SECOND EDITION
According to Webster's Dictionary, hydraulics is that branch of
science or engineering which treats ofwater, or other fluids, in motion
and the works and machinery for conducting or raising it. Fire
Service Hydraulics fits this definition except that it deals only with
water and its various applications, including foam, and certain spe
cialized machinery and equipment that includes hose and nozzles.
Fire Service Hydraulics also includes the action of the men who
manipulate this water and machinery. It is therefore a unique
branch of hydraulics that has been tailored to a unique service and to
the men who provide it-fire fighting and fire fighters.
We have divided this Second Edition ofFire ServiceHydraulics into
four parts: Theory, Water, Practice and Foam.
Part I-Theory, includes two chapters and was written by Robert
L. Darwin. It could almost be called an introduction to fluid
mechanics. In the first chapter, Mr. Darwin covers the physicallaws
relating to Hydrostatics (fluids at rest) and Hydrokinetics (fluids in
motion). In the second he covers the relationships that control the
performance of water when it is used in the typical fire fighting situa
tions. All formulas that are used in pumping water, moving it in
hose and discharging it from nozzles are developed and explained in
considerable depth.
Mr. Darwin is a fire protection engineer with the Naval Material
Command, Navy Department, Washington D.C. He holds a B. S.
in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland and is
currentlyworking onhismaster'sdegree inengineeringadministration.
Part 2-Water, is divided into two chapters: Water Distribution
Systems and Fire Service Pumps. II
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION
The first was preparedby Kenneth J. Carl, P.E., directorof munici
pal surveys and assistant chief engineerofthe Engineering, Safety and
Research Department of The American Insurance Association. Mr.
Carl is a well known figure in the American Water Works Associa
tion and speaks with an authority on water distribution systems that
few possess. His thoughts on hydrants and mains and particularly
on flowtesting should be part of every fire fighters knowledge.
In the second chapter of Water, Hubert Walker, P.E., has covered
the design andfunctionofeverypumpused in thefireservice. Witha
multitude of illustrations, and a clear and thorough text, Mr. Walker
provides the pump operator with just about every bit of information
he needs to know on the subject.
Mr. Walker is a former vice president of the American LaFrance
Corporation and a monthlycontributorto FIREENGINEERINGthrough
his "Apparatus Maintenance" column.
Part 3-Practice, takes the pump operator and company officerout
into the field where the action is. In this part the laws and formulas
governing hydraulics and the information supplied on water systems
and pumps are put to use. From a practical viewpoint, Part 3 is
probably the most important section of the Second Edition of Fire
ServiceHydraulics. It is divided into five chapters.
Richard P. Sylvia, associate editor of FIREENGINEERING, prepared
the first two chaptersofPart3: FrictionLossCalculations, andEngine
and Nozzle Pressure Calculations. In simple steps, with many short
cuts and with appropriate problems, Sylvia spells out the operations
of a fire company and its pump operator on the fireground.
In addition to his work on FIRE ENGINEERING, he is the former
chief of the Noroton, Conn., Fire Department and more importantly
for this edition he is chief instructor of the pump operation course of
the Connecticut State Fire School.
The remaining three chapters of Part 3 cover Fire Streams, Stand
pipe Systems and SprinklerSystems-allfrom thepracticalasopposed
to the theoretical aspect. Material in these chapters was prepared
by the editor. It has been adapted in part from the first edition of
Fire Service Hydraulics and a number of articles that appeared in
FIREENGINEERING over the years.
Part 4-Foam, was written by Dr. Richard L. Tuve, head of sup
pression research, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C.
In a strict sense, foam should not be included in a book that carries
the title of Hydraulics. However, foam is such a part of fire sup
pression and so closely linked to water and fire apparatus that we
vi felt that it should be included in Fire ServiceHydraulics.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION
In this section Dr. Tuve has just about covered everything the fire
fighter should know about foam. He writes specifically for this
audience-s-and in straightforward nontechnical language. He begins
with the general characteristics and uses of foam and goes on through
its methods of generation, foam proportioning devices and foam
systems.
Dr. Tuve has been in fire suppression research for most of his work
ing life and is most notable for his development of Purple-K and
Light Water. He is at present chairman of the Foam Committee,
National Fire Protection Association.
It is our hope that the fire fighter will study this book as a whole.
However, in preparing it, we kept in mind the fact that not all who
read it will have the time or the desire to go into the theory as deeply
as Mr. Darwin has, nor will all desire the knowledge of pumps that
Mr. Walker gives.
Itisfor this reason that wedividedFire ServiceHydraulic8into four
parts-each of which can be studied independently. For instance,
Part 3-Practice, could have been titled Fireground Hydraulics. It
contains all that the pump operator needs to know when operating
at a fireand, with Walker's chapter, all that a pump operationinstruc
tor needs to know to conduct a short course.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the American Insurance Asso
ciation and to the National Fire Protection Association for permission
to use various tables from their publications. And we extend partic
ular thanks to Dorothy P. Ferguson, managing editor of FIRE
ENGINEERING, who labored hard and long in the preparation of all
copy for this edition.
J. F. C.
FIRE ENGINEERING
New York, N.Y.
August 1970
PREFACE
"Of all branches of fire fighting probably none has received more
deserved attention than that of hydraulics; and it is to present the
general knowledge current on this subject, as applied to fire fighting,
that this treatise has been prepared."
These words formed part of the preface to "Practical Hydraulics
for Firemen" that was writtenin 1917by Fred Shepperd, B.Sc., M.E.
Mr. Shepperd, who can rightfully be caned the father of fire service
hydraulics, alsostated in his preface that "the soleobject (ofthe text)
is to serve as an aid in developing the judgment of firemen through
constant application in solving imaginary problems..." He used
almost the same words to introduce "Simplified Fire Department
Hydraulics" in 1925 and again in 1941 with Fire Service Hydraulics.
His words apply equally as wen to this Second Edition ofFire Service
Hydraulics.
The "general knowledge" current today is, understandably, differ
ent than it was in 1917and even in 1941. And, of course, the general
education of the men who will study this book today is on a much
higher level than in those years. However, this second edition still
contains all the basic information that Mr. Shepperd set forth in 1917
and the later revisions. What makes this edition different from its
predecessors is the treatment in depth given to hydraulic theory and
practice, and the elaboration on water systems and tire department
pumps. Foam has come a long way since 1941-so much so that we
have given a lengthy chapter to it alone.
This edition, as all the others have been, is geared to the ever
growing needs of the fireservice. It was planned and written for the
beginner and the advanced student, and for those who want to know
"why" as well as "how-to."
James F. Casey III
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Preface. III
Introduction V
PART i-THEORY
1 Water-at Rest and in Motion 2
Hydrostatics or Liquids at Rest
Liquids in Motion, Hydrokinetics
2 Velocity and Discharge . 43
Flow Velocity and Nozzle Discharge
Nozzle Reaction
Friction Loss in Water Conductors
PART 2-WATER
3 Water Distribution Systems. 7-4
Water Supply Systems
Fire Flow Tests
4 Fire Service Pumps 138
Centrifugal, Piston and Rotary Pumps
Booster and High Pressure Pumps
Portable and Back-Pack Pumps
Tanker Pumps
Municipal and Industrial Fire Pumps (Stationary)
PART 3-PRACTICE
5 Friction Loss Calculations 226
How Friction LossWorks III
CONTENTS
FrictionLoss in Small Hose
Flow Advantages of Big Hose
6 Engine and Nozzle Pressures 239
Parallel Lines
Aerial Stream Calculations
Relay Pumping
7 Fire Streams 293
Nozzle Performance
Heavy Streams
8 Standpipe Systems 308
Water Supplies
Operating at Fires
9 Automatic Sprinkler Systems 324
Classifications of SprinklerSystems
Water Supplies for Sprinkler Systems
PART 4--FOAM
10 Fire Fighting Foams and Foam Systems. 344
Characteristics of Foam
Foam Generation Methods
Proportioning Devices
Foam Systems
Appendix . 393
Fire Stream Tables, Friction Loss Table, Conversion Tables
(Cubic Feet to Gallons, Gallona to Cubic Feet), Contents
of Cylinders, Circumferences and Areas of Circles, Square
Roots
Index 423
theOry
PART ONE:
CHAPTER ONE
Water-at rest and motion
IIIn
A full and complete knowledge of the characteristics of water and
fluidsystemswhichmoveandutilize waterisofprimeimportanceinthe
science of fire engineering. Without this economical and efficient
fluid, fire protection of all kinds would be severely handicapped.
However, with 75 percent of the earth's surface consisting of liquid
water, saltandfresh, weneed only tolearnhowto useitmost efficiently
for our needs as a fire fighting agent. Just remember the cardinal
rule that fire protection requires the delivery of the needed material
or agent at the right time, in the rightvolume, in therightform, in the
desired place to accomplish a needed result.
A study of the science of hydraulics provides the professional fire
officerwith these necessary facts. This science deals with the prop
erties of fluids at rest in tanks or reservoirs and the characteristics
demonstrated by the flowoffluids in motion when they traverse pipes
or conduits and issue from nozzles.
An important feature of the science of hydraulics and dynamic
flowis connected with its capability for quantization, that is, the use
of numbers and the assignment of values to important physical
relationships. Perhaps nowhere else in the fire protection profession
are numbers and mathematical expressions used so extensively.
This must not deter the eager student in his pursuit of the necessary
2 knowledge for achieving excellence.
