Overcoming the influence of a 2 metre long pipe offset on water flow capacity of drainage with secondary ventilation in a high-rise building

Abstract

A potential consequence of installing a 2 m long pipe offset on a ventilated drainage system in a high-rise buildings is that the water seal could be damaged when the flowrate exceeds the maximum discharge capacity of a drainage system, thereby threatening the indoor health safety. Some high-rise buildings are designed for commercial and residential use to achieve economic and social benefits, so the whole building use and layout changes in the vertical direction. The drainage stack may be designed with an offset between floors to avoid structural obstacles inside the building. The flow direction change could destroy the water seal of sanitary appliances and threaten the health of residents. To better understand the influence of the form of a pipe offset on the drainage capacity, a full-scale experiment was conducted to study the secondary ventilated system with an antireflux H-tube pipe, which was equipped with two guide plates inside to improve the air-water flow pattern and prevent backflow, installed between floor. This study also considered a kind of offset where the offset distance was 2.0 m rather than the S-shaped offset joint, which is more common in commercial and residential complexes. The influence on the discharge capacity of installing an extra antireflux H-tube pipe was compared with normal 90-degree elbow and only one antireflux H-tube pipe above the offset point. The pressure fluctuation and water seal losses under constant discharge rates were adopted as experimental parameters to determine the maximum discharge capacity according to Standard for Capacity Test of Vertical Pipe of the Domestic Residential Drainage System. Results show that the installation of an extra antireflux H-tube pipe can release the air accumulation caused by pipe offset, and the combined installation of a large curvature elbow and an extra antireflux H-tube pipe can effectively improve the discharge capacity.

Practical Application: 2 metre long offsets are not unusual in ventilated drainage systems in high-rise buildings, however, designers and builders do not pay sufficient attention to the adverse consequences of the pipe offset. An extra antireflux H-tube pipe can be installed above the offset joint to optimise the drainage system to perform as it would without the offset. In a system with 2 m long pipe offset, installing a large curvature elbow together with an extra antireflux H-tube pipe together provides a better effect.