Numerous intermediate-height and even very tall high-rise buildings use various pumping schemes. Supplying adequate water pressure at all levels of the building is critical for building occupants, although economics, basic building functions, and overall heights have significant impact on methods of water supply distribution. This particular method has been used successfully in many high-rise building designs. This pressure zone uses a central pressure-reducing valve and sub-riser to meet the minimum pressure required at the highest level and the maximum pressure allowed at the lowest level. This too is a fairly routine condition that often is solved by either placing pressure-reducing valves on each level where pressure exceeds code maximum or branching from the higher pressure riser to make a pressure zone. The combined head pressure causes the pressure at the bottom may exceed the allowable safe level as limited by code and materials. A common complication begins when you begin to stack floors. You add a pressure boost system to meet that demand on the top floor. Many designers answer this challenge daily.įor instance, a common condition in a water riser serving a toilet group in an office building supplied with flush valve fixtures requires 25 psi at the most remote fixture. While this may seem a reasonable incremental loss, it can be a significant penalty when the water is raised 75 feet then, a requirement is added to maintain a high minimum pressure at the top of the column. Plumbing engineers learn early on that as you lift water above a datum, you lose one pound per square inch for every 2.3 feet of elevation. Pressure is both friend and foe in plumbing systems. Some of the biggest challenges to high-rise plumbing design relate to controlling pressure. High-rise design and construction present more than a few special challenges, especially regarding the design of plumbing systems. With that fairly simple definition, all high-rise design challenges should be the same, right? Perhaps some additional discussion is warranted before we make that determination! That low threshold requires several specific features to be designed into buildings to promote life safety and allow for emergency responders to safely and quickly access the higher levels of the building, thereby saving lives and considerable invested resources. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) defines a high-rise building as a building with an occupied floor that is 75 feet above the level where the firefighting apparatus would stage firefighting operations. While this is the romantic and not always incorrect vision, a “high” rise can be as short as eight to 10 floor levels. Sometimes, especially in motion pictures, we envision high-rise buildings as towering skyscrapers. The density of buildings, traffic, the scarcity of land, and a competitive spirit among developers are all factors that work together to push modern buildings higher. The reemergence of our core cities as more active and vibrant communities brings pressures and challenges to those who design.
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