In fire protection engineering

Fire protection engineering

Fire Protection Engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to protect people and their environments from the destructive effects of fire and smoke....

, the K-factor formula is used to calculate the discharge rate from a nozzle. Nozzles can be fire sprinkler

Fire sprinkler

A fire sprinkler system is an active fire protection measure, consisting of a water supply system, providing adequate pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping system, onto which fire sprinklers are connected...

s or water mist nozzles, hose reel nozzles, water monitors and deluge fire system nozzles.

The flow rate of a nozzle is given by , where q is the flow rate in litre

Litre

pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...

s per minute (LPM), p is the pressure

Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...

 at the nozzle in Bar

Bar (unit)

The bar is a unit of pressure equal to 100 kilopascals, and roughly equal to the atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. Other units derived from the bar are the megabar , kilobar , decibar , centibar , and millibar...

and K is the K-factor is given in units of .

External links

• k-factor calculator Calculate k-factor for a set of fittings, bends, valves etc. in a piping system.