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MONITORS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Calculating the jet flow

The new Angus Fire desk-top computer simulator
allows a design to select monitors and foam cannons
under operating conditions. Chartered Engineer and
Product Manager for Angus Fire Michael Mills writes.

decade ago a 2,000 gall/min monitor was considered

large. Now manufacturers are stretching the envelope with
5,000 and 8,000gall/min models and the latest design
available from Angus Fire can handle flows of 15,000gall/min and
throw a jet of foam over 600ft.
In practice a 15,000gall/min monitor is just a stretched 8,000
gall/min design. But thats the easy bit. A 15,000gall/min monitor
can generate a reaction force of 4 tons. With forces this big the
strength of the monitor body and the mechanism for directing it
become critical.

monitor will need to be fed by at least three 6 hoses to stop the

pressure drop in the supply pipes becoming too high. While many
fire mains have hydrants with dual 6 outlets not many have three.
At a water flow of 4,000 gall/min and an induction rate of 3% a
monitor will use 120 gall/min of foam. If the run time is 20
minutes it will need a 2,400 gallon foam tanker to keep it supplied.
And even if we can supply enough foam there is the difficulty of
getting the foam into the water stream in an efficient and accurate
way.

Foam induction
On small monitors it is practical to use a foam-inducing nozzle or
cannon. The system is simple and accurate, and the pressure loss
through the inductor can normally be compensated for by
increasing the supply pressure. However, on a large monitor it may
be necessary to use a foam pump, or a mobile foam induction
system.
Angus monitors can be supplied with self-inducing aspirating
foam cannons for flows up to 4,000gall/min. Above this, jet pumps
or portable inductors must be deployed.

Fixed or mobile monitors?

Angus remote
control monitor
under test.

The layout and sizing of monitors to protect a fixed installation is

relatively simple. The maximum distance the jet has to reach is
known, and once an allowance has been made for wind effects, a
plan can be drawn up locating the monitors so they can reach all
the risks. All that remains is to install the water and foam piping.
On a large site it may be impractical to mount enough monitors
to cover every risk under all conditions. The answer is for the
monitors to be mobile. When there is an incident the monitor can
be towed on a trailer and deployed, hopefully up-wind of the risk!
But as soon as we solve one problem we encounter another. How
do we get enough water and foam to the monitor?

A tiger by the tail

Water main sizing

Jet throw calculations

A 4,000gall/min monitor uses a substantial amount of foam and

water. If a site has a 6 fire ring main feeding water from two
directions the velocity in the pipes will be over 23ft/sec; which is
above the limit most system designers will allow. If the water feed is
not a ring main the pipes must be at least 10 diameter.
Even if the fire main can supply the water there is the difficulty of
getting it from the hydrants to the monitor. A 4,000gall/min

The distance a jet of water or foam solution will travel is, in theory,
simple to calculate. If the flow of water through the monitor is
known and this is divided by the cross sectional area of the nozzle,
the speed of the jet can be calculated. If it is assumed that there is
no atmospheric drag then the optimal angle for the jet is 45. For a
flow of 1,000gall/min and an effective nozzle diameter of 2 the
exit velocity from the nozzle is 100ft/sec. If the nozzle is at an angle
of 45 the vertical component of the velocity is 70ft/sec. Gravity will
slow the jet by 32ft/sec for every second the jet is in the air.
Therefore the time that will elapse before the vertical jet stream hits
the ground is 4.5 seconds (2.25 seconds upwards and 2.25
seconds downwards). During this time the jet will travel horizontally
for 4.5 seconds at 70ft/sec or a theoretical distance of 315ft before
hitting the ground. However in practice air resistance and other
dynamic effects make the actual distance much shorter, typically
50% to 65% of the theoretical distance.

A large monitor, with a flow of 8,000gall/min will exert a

considerable reaction force on the mechanism used to direct the
jet. Manual operation, using a lever, becomes difficult and possibly
dangerous. The solution is to use a worm and wheel gearbox to
move the monitor in the vertical or horizontal directions.
Provided the worm drive angle is less than 20 it is usually
impossible for the wheel to drive the worm due to friction in the
gearing, but it is possible for the worm to drive the wheel. The
mechanism is therefore intrinsically safe and any out-of-balance
forces in the monitor cannot move it off target.

Air resistance
The major influence on jet travel is air resistance. A small diameter
jet (typically 1/2 will travel through the air without breaking apart.
This is due to surface tension effects and because the turbulence in
a small diameter nozzle is usually minimal. However, large jets do
not behave in this way. A large jet (typically 3 or above) will often
spin and contain eddies as it leaves the nozzle. These cause water

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droplets to spin off the main jet and cause additional friction losses
which in turn reduce the distance the jet will travel. It also follows
that, if the major influence on jet travel is air resistance, any head
wind will cause a significant change in range.

How far will the jet travel?

There have been a number of attempts to generate mathematical
formulas that predict throw. It is relatively simple to generate
mathematical formulas for water jets which remain coherent, but it
is difficult to generate reliable formulas to allow for a jet which
breaks up into smaller particles.
Early attempts in the 1900s were inaccurate; especially for larger
diameter nozzles. Later attempts in the 1970s used computers to
solve the equations using the step method. This began to yield
usable results, but computer time was at a premium and too
expensive for day to day use.
Angus Fire has developed a computer simulation that mirrors
experimental results for most conditions encountered during fire
fighting; including wind effects. However, while it is simple to check
the results of jet throw in still-air conditions against the
mathematical prediction, it is difficult to cross check the effects of
head or side winds during field tests.
The use of computer simulations has confirmed a number of
effects which, while known to experienced firefighters, can now be
predicted using mathematics.
For a given water flow there is an optimum jet size which gives
the maximum jet range.
Above a certain pressure (roughly 170psi, but varies with the
jet size) an increase in pressure will lead to a decrease in jet
throw and not an increase.
The effect of wind speed on jet throw is substantial. In addition
the effect of a head wind on jet range is less for every ft/sec of
wind strength than the effect of a following wind.
The Angus Fire desk top computer simulation allows a designer
to select monitors and foam cannons or fog/jet nozzles in the
range 100 to 9,000 US gall/min; choose the height of the monitor
above ground level; select the angle of the jet (including negative
angles with the jet pointing downwards); and vary the monitor inlet
pressure. Finally the user can change the wind speed from zero to
65 ft/sec either with or against the direction of the jet. When a final
selection has been made the result can be printed out for future
reference.
Improvements in monitor design have continued over the years
with larger and larger units being produced. However, electronic
documentation, to enable the user to predict the jet throw and flow
under a range of operating conditions, is a major step forward in
the technology of firefighting monitors.

The three-minute interview:

Scorpe Technologies
Sofrad Groupe & Gimaex Group have joined forces to create
Scorpe Technologies. The new company not only designs
and manufactures but also market its products worldwide.
Ann Marie Knegt speaks with Managing Director Christophe
Cahoreau.
What types of large capacity monitors do you manufacture?
In our range of products, we have four different models ranging
from 2,000 LPM to 8,000 LPM. In the 5,000 LPM models, we can
Christophe Cahoreau,
find the Rockett GF5, which can be used both on the ground or
mounted as a fixed monitor, then the Rockett GF5 RF with the same Scorpe Technologies.
features except from the radio frequency control of the movements of the monitor. We then go to
the Rockett F5 RF, which is a 5,000 LPM fixed mount radio frequency operated monitor. The
highest capacity nozzle we offer in our range is the Rockett F8 RF, an 8,000 LPM fixed mount,
radio-frequency operated monitor. All the nozzles mounted on our monitors benefit from the
Velocity Equalizing Nozzle, using a cone shape to restructure the flow, resulting in improved reach
of between 15 and 20%.
Which of these are best suitable for industrial use?
All of them are suitable for industrial use, depending on the needs of each industry, in terms of
flow, but also in terms of monitor control via wireless/manual options.
What are the main requirements of your industrial customers?
The radio frequency control of monitors is something that the industrials are really interested in,
because it enables better control of the situation by having a global view of the action
site, and as well protecting the people who can be up to 400 meters away from the
monitor with the remote control.
How are customer requirements driving the design of your
monitors?
The input of industrial customers is
really important to us. They may
have specific needs but most of
the time the improvements
brought by the industrial world are
installed in our entire range. Each
and every bit of information we
receive from our different customers
helps to design better products, enabling
us to offer more complete and efficient
solutions to many different types of
concerns.

Specialistt in
n
Fire
e Fighting
g Equipmentt

Rockett GF5 RF
radio-controlled
fixed monitor.

Fischcon Trading & Engineering B.V.

P.O. Box 231
T.+31 (0) 347 329 020
4130 EE Vianen F.+31 (0) 347 373 459
The Netherlands E. info@fischcon.com

Hellbeater Systems - Gensets - Hydraulic Power Packs - Marine Fire Fighting

Land Based Fire Fighting - Step Up Gearboxes - Mobile Fi-Fi Systems

Visit our website at www.fischcon.com

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