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COMPRESSIBLE FLOW

Strictly speaking all fluids are compressible to a degree.  The density of a great many common fluids changes so little with pressure that for most practical calculations the density can be considered constant.  Water and most hydrocarbon liquids fall into this category of "non-compressible" liquids.

Gases, however, show a marked tendency to compress with increasing pressure.  The density of a perfect gas is directly related to its pressure and temperature.  The science of predicting the hydraulics for gas flow is discussed in many textbooks.   Many practical formulas with supporting data is provided in Flow of Fluids Through Valves, Fittings, and Pipe, Technical Paper No. 410 by the Engineering Division, Crane Co. New York, NY.

LMNO Engineering, Research and Software, Ltd. has an excellent website dealing with fluid mechanics.  The site includes interactive calculations and a wealth of equations and data.  Click here to go the LMNO Engineering, Research and Software, Ltd. site.

Request the article on Two Phase Flow of Liquefied Compressed Gases  for details on the flow theory used by GSI for compressible and two-phase flow of fire fighting agents.

The compressible flow of inert gaseous fire suppression agents has been researched by GSI.  GSI has developed a computerized flow calculation for such inert gas agents which permits the design of very large complex pipe networks to deliver these agents to "total flood" hazards.  During this research, it was necessary to refine the traditional approach to calculating flow of compressed gas to include compensation for continuous heat entry into the gas during the discharge.  This work is discussed in greater detail on the INERGEN page of this web site.

GSI has developed engineering software using these proven theories to predict the flow of fire extinguishing agents.  Most software has been custom made for specific manufacturer's of fire extinguishing systems.  The software for high pressure carbon dioxide, however, is available in both generic and OEM versions.  For more information, please click here.

Last revised 03/25/09

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