Firewater Demand Assessment & Hydraulic Modelling — Petroleum Terminal
Maximum water demand study, ring-main hydraulic model, pump duty verification and storage sizing for a coastal petroleum storage terminal.
Client: Confidential client — petroleum terminal operator • Service: Fire Protection Engineering
Project overview
A regional petroleum terminal operator engaged Ventron to establish a defensible firewater design basis for its Mombasa storage facility. The terminal had grown over two decades — new tanks, a relocated loading rack and extended manifolds — but the firewater system still operated on its original design assumptions.
Our work re-baselined the entire network: surveyed pipe routing and elevations, modelled the ring main under governing fire scenarios, and verified pump performance against the worst credible demand case.
Client challenge
Successive expansions had outgrown the original firewater design. The operator could not demonstrate to its insurer that remote hydrants and foam systems would receive adequate pressure during a full bund-fire scenario, and the duty fire pump ran far from its rated point with no documented NPSH margin.
Ventron solution
We built the demand case from first principles — bund fire plus exposure cooling plus hose streams — then constructed a hydraulic model of the full ring main from surveyed as-built data. The model exposed two undersized legs and a suction arrangement with inadequate NPSH margin at low tank level. Our recommendations sequenced pipe upgrades, a re-rated pump selection and a raised suction-tank operating level, each costed and phased around terminal operations.
Scope of work
- Site survey of firewater network, tanks, pumps and hydrant coverage
- Maximum water demand assessment for governing fire scenarios
- Ring-main hydraulic model and system-curve development
- Pump duty-point matching, run-out checks and NPSH verification
- Phased upgrade recommendations with budget costs
Engineering deliverables
- Maximum demand calculation set
- Hydraulic model report with pressure contours
- Pump datasheet and duty verification sheets
- Upgrade phasing plan and BOQ input
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