Faculty of Engineering

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THE EFFECT OF DEFLECTOR DISTANCE ON EXTRA LOW PRESSURE FIRE SPRINKLER NOZZLE PERFORMANCE

NUR ATIKAH BINTI ABDUL RAZAK

Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering)

2019

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Grade: _____________

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Final Year Project Report Masters

PhD

DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK

This declaration is made on the ………day of………2019.

Student’s Declaration:

I NUR ATIKAH BINTI ABDUL RAZAK, (53113), from FACULTY OF ENGINEERING hereby declare that the work entitled THE EFFECT OF DEFLECTOR DISTANCE ON EXTRA LOW PRESSURE FIRE SPRINKLER NOZZLE PERFORMANCE is my original work. I have not copied from any other students’ work or from any other sources except where due reference or acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text, nor has any part been written for me by another person.

____________________ ________________________

Date submitted NUR ATIKAH BINTI ABDUL RAZAK (53113)

Supervisor’s Declaration:

I Ir. Rudiyanto Bin Philman Jong hereby certifies that the work entitled THE EFFECT OF DEFLECTOR DISTANCE ON EXTRA LOW PRESSURE FIRE SPRINKLER NOZZLE PERFORMANCE was prepared by the above named student, and was submitted to the “FACULTY OF ENGINEERING” as a *partial/full fulfilment for the conferment of BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING WITH HONOURS (MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING), and the aforementioned work, to the best of my knowledge, is the said student’s work.

Received for examination by: --- Date:____________________

Ir. Rudiyanto Bin Philman Jong

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THE EFFECT OF DEFLECTOR DISTANCE ON EXTRA LOW PRESSURE FIRE SPRINKLER NOZZLE PERFORMANCE

NUR ATIKAH BINTI ABDUL RAZAK

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Faculty of Engineering University Malaysia Sarawak

2019

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank you my supervisor, Ir. Rudiyanto Bin Philman Jong for his unlimited guidance and support throughout this project. This project could not have been completed without his supervision and inspiration. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my family member for their infinite love, support and encourgement to complete my fourth year undergraduate study. Special thanks to my fellow friends especially my coursemate who always stand by to help me directly or indirectly along the way may it be sharing happiness or sadness. I could not express how much gratitude towards those who helped me but sincerely wishes all of them best of everything now and then.

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ABSTRACT

The fires cases in Malaysia have been increasing rapidly over the years. The number of fire cases involved residential building is significantly higher than other building types. Therefore, the aim of this project is to evaluate the effect of deflector distance to the performance of fire sprinkler nozzle under the operating pressure of less than 0.5 bar so that it can be used in residential area with minimum maintenance on the system. The fire sprinkler design and performance requirement on area of coverage was not met by all studied deflector distance. This sprinkler will be used in a building where pumping system is not preferred. The model of fire sprinkler nozzle was developed with Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software. The simulations of a sprinkler nozzle were performed by using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model. It was found that area of coverage was not met by all studied deflector distance. However, there are potential improvement for 30 mm, 40 mm and 50 mm deflector distance. The recommended future improvement is redesign deflector, increase orifice diameter, introduce external pressure tank and increase flow rate.

Keywords: Residential fire sprinkler, sprinkler nozzle, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD), Extra low pressure

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ABSTRAK

Kes-kes kebakaran di Malaysia telah meningkat dengan pesat dalam beberapa tahun ini. Jumlah kes-kes kebakaran melibatkan bangunan kediaman jauh lebih tinggi berbanding jenis bangunan lain. Oleh itu, matlamat projek ini adalah untuk menilai kesan jarak deflector kepada prestasi muncung pemercik api di bawah tekanan operasi kurang daripada 0.5bar di titik kemasukan supaya ia boleh digunakan di kawasan kediaman dengan penyelenggaran yang minimum terhadap sistem tersebut. Hasil daripada kajian mendapati, reka bentuk dan prestasi pemercik kebakaran tidak memenuhi keperluan piawaian dan peraturan yang berkaitan terutamanya dari segi kawasan liputan. Sistem pam tidak disyorkan dalam sistem pemercik bangunan. Model muncung pemercik kebakaran akan dibangunkan dengan Perisian Reka Bentuk bantuan Komputer (CAD). Simulasi muncung pemercik akan dilakukan menggunakan model Dinamik Bendalir Berkomputer (CFD). Kesimpulan projek ini mendapati kesemua jarak deflector yang dipelajari tidak memenuhi kawasan liputan. Walaubagaimanapun, terdapat cadangan yang boleh dipertimbangkan pada masa akan datang. Antara contoh nya ialah mereka bentuk semula deflektor, meningkatkan diameter orifis, memperkenalkan tangki tekanan luar dan meningkatkan kadar aliran.

Kata kunci: Kediaman pemercik kebakaran, muncung pemercik, Dinamik Bendalir Berkomputer (CFD), tekanan rendah

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 Fire sprinkler nozzle types 14-16

2.2 Summary of literature finding (past module) 19-20

3.1 Component of a Fire Sprinkler 23-24

3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of RANS 40

4.1 Deflector distance 51

4.2 Result of Area of coverage for all distance 59

4.3 Result for minimum and maximum velocity 65

4.4 Result for velocity at deflector 65

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LIST OF FIGURE

Figure Page

2.2.5 Statistics on fire breakout in Malaysia (2012-2016) 5 2.2.6 The death statistics on fire breakout in Malaysia (2012-

2016)

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2.3.7 The residential statistics on fire breakout in Malaysia (2012-2016)

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2.4.8 Estimated loss (RM million) due fire breakout in Malaysia (2012-2016)

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2.5 Existing pendent sprinkler nozzle for residential building 10

3.1 Pendent sprinkler nozzle 22

3.2 Dimension of deflector component 25

3.3 Dimension of nozzle component 26

3.4 Dimension of frame component 26

3.5 Dimension of orifice (opening) component 27

3.6 Dimension of threading component 27

3.7 Illustration of Fire sprinkler nozzle operation 35

3.8 Flow Chart of Fire Sprinkler Model 42

4.1 Outline tree of Design Modeler with fire sprinkler and fluid domain

46

4.2 Meshing of fluid domain 47

4.3 Details of the mesh 48

4.4 Outline tree CFD simulation 49

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4.5 Space setting for the simulation 51

4.6 Several deflector distance 52

4.8.1 Area of coverage result of fire sprinkler system with 20 mm length of deflector distance

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4.8.6 Area of coverage result of fire sprinkler system with 100 mm length of deflector distance

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4.8.7 Graph of Deflector distance vs. Area of coverage 59 4.9.1 Velocity at deflector with 20 mm length of deflector

distance

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4.9.2 Velocity at deflector with 30 mm length of deflector distance

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4.9.6 Velocity at deflector with 100 mm length of deflector 63

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4.9.7 Graph of Deflector Distance against Velocity at Defector 66

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

A Area of coverage

D Diameter

d Density

g Acceleration of gravity

h Height

K Nominal discharge coefficient

L Length

P Pressure

Q Flow rate

V Velocity

z Potential Head

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LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics

ISO International Organization For Standardization NFPA National Fire Protection Association

BS British Standard

CAD Computer Aided Design

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LIST OF NOMENCLATURE

m Meter

m² Square meter

m³/s Cubic meter per second

LPM Litre per minute

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Overview

Fire is one of the major cause for the damage of properties, injury and loss of life (H. Talib 2015). About 96.47% of 5,485 building fire cases reported in 2014 due to fire accident (Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia, 2016). The statistics of landed and high-rise house at 921 cases and 331 cases respectively, followed by condominium and squatter at 221 cases and 147 cases and traditional house about 128 cases involved in fire outbreak in Malaysia. The total cases of fire outbreak are 1729 cases. Electrical circuit and cooking gas were the top causes of residential fire accident.

The purpose of fire sprinkler systems is to provide an appropriate amount of water to extinguish fires before they get the opportunity to grow and spread throughout the room (Nave 2018). However, Laws of Sarawak, Building Ordinance (1994) and Laws of Malaysia, ACT 133, Uniform Building by Laws (1984) do not require automatic fire sprinkler system to be installed for small residential building.

Unfortunately, if any building was provide with an automatic sprinkler installation, double dimension limit should be used.

Fire sprinkler installation means an installation of water supplies, pump, pipes, valves and delivery point so arranged as to automatically detect a fire and attack it with

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water, sound an alarm and installed in accordance with the ruler or other standard approved by the Fire Authority. Fire sprinkler has been long proven to be a life-safety technology (I. Elmis, 2017).

Most conventional sprinkler nozzles require at least 0.5 bar of inlet pressure to operate sufficiently which is in line with the requirement of National Fire Protection Association, NFPA 13 (Fleming, 2016). Therefore, there is a need for the awareness on the importance of residential fire sprinkler and subsequently actions for installation for houses in Malaysia.

1.1 Problem statement

Fire sprinkler in residential building is needed because it can activate faster than any other reaction mechanism and help to control the fire immediately at the point of origin (W. Pgogrer, 2016). Unfortunately, fire sprinkler is costly to be installed and maintained. The complexity of the system using pump require ongoing maintenance, testing and inspections annually to ensure that system is functional and will in the event of a fire. But without pump, the system will not be able to achieve a minimum of 0.5 bar at nozzle inlet. The inspection and repairing fire sprinkler system is not cheap and the task must be done by a trained professional and this come at a cost. Moreover, most conventional sprinkler nozzle required a pressure of at least 0.5 bar to achieve the desired results that met the requirement of NFPA 13 and MS ISO 6182-10:2009.

However, to avoid difficulty for the system selection especially for pump that required periodical maintenance, fire sprinkler nozzle for application with no pump is proposed in this project.

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3 1.2 Objectives

The objectives of this project are:

a) To evaluate domestic sprinkler nozzle performance at extra low pressure of <0.5 bar by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

b) To evaluate the effect on deflector distance to area of coverage at the sprinkler nozzle under extra low pressure condition.

1.3 Scopes of work

The study was done based on the following scopes:

a. The flow will be considered as turbulent incompressible.

b. Study will be evaluated based on the simulation using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) with Reynolds- Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solution method.

c. System will be set for nozzle inlet working pressure of 0.5 bar.

d. Focus on residential application only.

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Overview

This chapter review previous research on fire sprinkler as well as overview of residential fire sprinkler that related to this phenomenon. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the reader to a fire outbreak in Malaysia, Standards and regulations related to fire sprinkler and system of fire sprinkler in residential. This chapter also tracks the development of studies in the types of fire sprinkler that discussed four types of fire sprinkler. The study also reviews studies that investigated fire sprinkler nozzle type. As the current study is exploring the past Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model for fire sprinkler nozzle, this chapter will review studies that explore past CFD model by various researches.

2.1 Fire outbreak in Malaysia.

The majority of fire related deaths and injuries occur in the residential (W.

William 2016). Malaysia has implemented fire prevention program and strategies including the use of fire sprinkler to minimize the burden. The number of fire reported residential house has declined over the past decade (Tannous, 2017).

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Based on Figure 2.1, within five years from 2012 until 2016, the highest number of cases attended by Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM) was recorded in 2014 at 54,540 fire cases and the lowest figure was recorded in 2012 at 29,848 cases. In 2013, 2015 and 2016 showed a figure of 33,640 fire cases, 39,101 fire cases and 49,875 fire cases respectively. In term of number cases attended, 2016 showed the second lowest with difference 4,665 lower than 2014, 54,540 cases.

Figure 2.1: Statistics on fire breakout in Malaysia, 2012-2016 (Source: Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM), 2016).

In 2012 until 2016, the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM) recorded a decreasing graph pattern in death rates in the fire cases. As 119 people was dead in 2012, increased by 23 victims (19.3%) to 142 people in 2013. This figure showed decreased by 3 victims (-2.1%) to 139 persons in 2014 and in 2015 recorded 14 victims (10.1%) to 158 people. However, in 2016, the number of death has decrease by 51 victims (-32.3%) at the same time showing a low rate of fire deaths within 5 years from 2012 until 2016 (Figure 2.2).

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Figure 2.2: The death statistics on fire breakout in Malaysia, 2012-2016 (Source: Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM), 2016).

Referring to Figure 2.3, the category of residential premises is the highest contributor to building fire statistic. The total number of residential premises that were attended by the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM) was 3178 cases. The category of residential house is the highest category which was 1263 cases involved in Malaysia. Residential house refers to any private owned house without going through any construction company such as private house and bungalow. According to the fire statistics, residential houses about 1263 cases, followed by terrace house (921), flat (331) and apartment/ condominium (221) cases.

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Figure 2.3: The residential statistics on fire breakout in Malaysia, 2012-2016 (Source:

Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM), 2016).

The Figure 2.4 shows a graph of estimated losses from fire from year 2012 to 2016. In 2015, the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM) was recorded the highest number of estimated losses at a RM 4.4 billion loss due to fire outbreak in Malaysia. In 2012, the total loss was recorded at RM 1.1 billion. A consistent increases occurred over the next two years when the amount of losses showed a total of RM 1.9 billion (2013) and RM 2.8 billion (2014). However, in 2016 the amount of loss showed a decrease of 34.1 % or RM 1.5 billion compared to the previous year.

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