TECHNICAL
PLUMBING DESIGN: SANITARY
PLUMBING IN HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS
The primary goal of a sanitary plumbing
system is to safely dispose of our foul water
of any kind. The barriers between our
living spaces and the sanitary plumbing
pipes are the water seals; the start of all
drains. Ensuring these seals stay intact is
therefore the key to a safe and reliable
sanitary plumbing installation. In high-rise
buildings especially, this can prove to be a
difficult task.
There are many situations that can result
in the breakage of a water seal and, in
this article, hydraulics engineer Nick Post
discusses some that can occur specifically
in high-rise buildings.
Ventilation
A water seal may break due to either an over (positive) or under
(negative) pressure in a system. Over-pressure will blow air
through the water seal; bubbles are created and water may
splash up, pushing sewer gases into the room. Under-pressure
will suck water out the seal; this causes a gurgling sound and
has the potential to create a direct air-connection between
the sewer and the room. A recent example of the latter, and a
demonstration of the serious implications of seal breakages for
public health, is that of a sanitary plumbing system in a high-rise
apartment building in Hong Kong in 2003, where a dry water
seal in a shower’s floor waste gully gave the SARS virus the
opportunity to spread.
To prevent such breakages occurring, the first and most important
component of a sanitary plumbing system is the ventilation pipe.
Because when water falls in an enclosed environment like a
sanitary plumbing stack, it needs approximately 32 litres of air
per litre of water. Without an air supply, water will not fall. Think
of when you put a straw in a glass of water; when you close the
end with your finger and pull it out of the glass, the water will
stay in the straw because of the vacuum created. Similarly, in
our sanitary plumbing system, if the air supply from the
ventilation pipe is insufficient, the system will seek other means
to get the air, like breaking through water seals. By designing
a good sanitary plumbing system you can prevent this from
happening, but there are some specific threats when dealing with
high-rise buildings.
20 PLUMBERS’ JOURNAL OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009
Wind influence
The relationship between wind and buildings is particularly
important with regard to high-rise buildings. The interaction of
wind with a building is like that with a natural feature such as
a mountain; positive and negative pressure zones are formed as
in image 1 (opposite). The windward side of the building has a
positive pressure and the roof and lee side a negative pressure.
The roof has a negative pressure because the wind takes longer
to travel over a slope than a flat surface. The roof then is
actually the most interesting building element when considering
sanitary plumbing.
Because the ventilation pipe terminates at the roof, itself an area
of negative pressure, a negative pressure is also created inside
the system. The only question is how great this pressure will be.
Roof pressures tend to be lower at the edges than in the middle
because of the turbulence that occurs due to the presence of
obstacles such as parapets or air handling units. Placement of the
ventilation pipe in different areas will therefore affect the degree
of negative pressure that occurs within the system.
To indicate the consequences of our design choices, the results
of a computation model concerning two high-rise buildings of 60
and 200m high respectively are shown in table 1. The numbers
shown in the table correspond with the numbers shown on the
roof on image 2, which indicate the ventilation pipe positions.
The test is executed at two different wind speeds, 10 and 15
metres per second (m/s). These speeds are meteorological and
are measured at a height of 10 metres above the ground. The
calculations took into account the building’s location in an
“
urban environment.
T HE FIRST AND MOST
IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF
A SANITARY PLUMBING SYSTEM
“
IS THE VENTILATION PIPE
The speed of 15m/s per second seems rather fast, but in
Wellington, wind speeds of over 16m/s occur for, on average,
173 days per year, so can be considered representative.
Note that the pressures shown in the table are created most often
by gusts and so may only occur for several tenths of a second.
However, these negative pressures may still impact significantly
on the system. It can be seen that the position of the ventilation
stack’s point of termination is very important. In the 200 metre
high building, the best and worst positions differ by a factor of
four, so particular attention should be given to this issue while
designing a sanitary plumbing system.
Also, by allowing sufficient capacity, and maybe even oversizing
a stack, or at least allowing fewer discharge units per stack, the
pressure can be accommodated by the volume of air within it,
thereby reducing the likelihood of breakage of the water seals.
Downsizing the ventilation pipe at the end of a stack is certainly
not recommended.
 TECHNICAL

“ PRESSURE BUILD-UP IS HIGH

WHEN THE DISCHARGE
ENTERS THE STACK, BUT “
Table 1: Peak pressures at the termination points of ventilation
pipes according to image 2.
Building Position 1 Position 2 Position 3

GETS GRADUALLY LESS AS

height (m) Pressure at Pressure at Pressure at Pressure at Pressure at Pressure at
10m/s (Pa) 15m/s (Pa) 10m/s (Pa) 15m/s (Pa) 10m/s (Pa) 15m/s (Pa)

THE FALL CONTINUES

60 -660 -1485 -360 -810 -162 -365
200 -1800 -4050 -1800 -4050 -960 -2160

Water behaviour in stacks
As many will know, when water falls down a stack, pressure
zones will be created, knowing there’s a positive pressure at
front and a negative pressure to the back of the discharge. This is
because the falling water partially locks the air flow going past it.
This discharge can be seen as a column of water falling down.
Some of the water falls down alongside the inside wall of the
pipe, but around 45 to 55 percent of the discharge falls in the
centre as loose particles. When the water starts to fall, these
centrally flowing particles will travel at a higher speed than the
water gliding along the wall. Because the air inside the stack
wants to travel from the positive pressure at the front of the
discharge to the negative pressure at the back of the discharge,
the particles will migrate from the centre of the pipe to the wall,
so reducing the percentage of water in the centre of the pipe
from 45 to 55 percent to 15 to 30 percent.
That means that the pressure build-up is high when the discharge
enters the stack, but gets gradually less as the fall continues.
This knowledge is helpful in the understanding of the hydraulic
aspects of sanitary plumbing systems.
Reduced velocity aerator stack system
Another method for reducing stack pressures are reduced
velocity aerator stack systems outlined in AS/NZS 3500.2. One
such system is named after the Swiss man who developed it
in the 1950s, Fritz Sommer, and its most important feature,
ventilation; hence the Sovent System.
The system is based on several simple principles; firstly,
separation of the continuously falling ‘column’ of water and the
incoming discharge; secondly, by reducing the falling speed so
both the positive and negative pressures are reduced; and last,
but certainly not least, by supplying sufficient air and excluding
the chance of hydraulic closure of air to the incoming branch.
In image four you can clearly see the three features of the
system. By applying the junction regularly in a stack, the column
of water will never reach its maximum speed and, because the
little ventilation channel is implemented, the incoming branch is
assured of air supply.
So when designing or installing a sanitary plumbing system in a
high-rise building, these are just some of the specific issues that
need to be given thought to. When this is done, building users
need not experience any inconvenience.
About the author: Engineer Nick
Post holds his Bachelor degree in the
field of operational technology. He is
hydraulic design manager for Plumbing
Design and Consultancy in Wellington.
This is a specialised firm that provides
specific hydraulic design solutions to
the building industry. With thorough
industrial knowledge and over 30 years
of combined experience within the team,
they also act as consultants in situations
where the hydraulic system situation is
challenging and specialised knowledge
is required. The company is currently
going through the application process to
become a member of the Association
of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ).
For more information please visit
www.plumbingdesign.co.nz.

Migration
of particles
to wall

Loose
particles
with
high Water alongside
speed wall with low
speed
Wind Direction

Image 1: Pressure zones Image 2: Roof of example Image 3: Schematic Image 4: Cross-section of a
around a building due to building with 3 positions of division of a discharge Sovent junction.
wind. ventilation pipes and wind inside a stack.
direction shown.

21 PLUMBERS’ JOURNAL OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009