Fire Dynamics Simulator
Encyclopedia
Fire Dynamics Simulator is a computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a large eddy simulation
form of the Navier-Stokes equations
appropriate for low-speed, thermally-driven flow, with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fires.
FDS is free software developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce, in cooperation with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Smokeview is the companion visualization program that can be used to display the output of FDS.
The first version of FDS was publicly released in February 2000. To date, about half of the applications of the model have been for design of smoke handling systems and sprinkler/detector activation studies. The other half consist of residential and industrial fire reconstructions. Throughout its development, FDS has been aimed at solving practical fire problems in fire protection engineering, while at the same time providing a tool to study fundamental fire dynamics and combustion.
FDS is a computer program that solves equations that describe the evolution of fire. It is a Fortran program that reads input parameters from a text file, computes a numerical solution to the governing equations, and writes user-specified output data to files. Smokeview is a companion program that reads FDS output files and produces animations on the computer screen. Smokeview has a simple menu-driven interface. FDS does not. However, there are various third-party programs that have been developed to generate the text file containing the input parameters needed by FDS.
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...
(CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a large eddy simulation
Large eddy simulation
Large eddy simulation is a mathematical model for turbulence used in computational fluid dynamics. It was initially proposed in 1963 by Joseph Smagorinsky to simulate atmospheric air currents, and many of the issues unique to LES were first explored by Deardorff...
form of the Navier-Stokes equations
Navier-Stokes equations
In physics, the Navier–Stokes equations, named after Claude-Louis Navier and George Gabriel Stokes, describe the motion of fluid substances. These equations arise from applying Newton's second law to fluid motion, together with the assumption that the fluid stress is the sum of a diffusing viscous...
appropriate for low-speed, thermally-driven flow, with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fires.
FDS is free software developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
(NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce, in cooperation with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Smokeview is the companion visualization program that can be used to display the output of FDS.
The first version of FDS was publicly released in February 2000. To date, about half of the applications of the model have been for design of smoke handling systems and sprinkler/detector activation studies. The other half consist of residential and industrial fire reconstructions. Throughout its development, FDS has been aimed at solving practical fire problems in fire protection engineering, while at the same time providing a tool to study fundamental fire dynamics and combustion.
FDS is a computer program that solves equations that describe the evolution of fire. It is a Fortran program that reads input parameters from a text file, computes a numerical solution to the governing equations, and writes user-specified output data to files. Smokeview is a companion program that reads FDS output files and produces animations on the computer screen. Smokeview has a simple menu-driven interface. FDS does not. However, there are various third-party programs that have been developed to generate the text file containing the input parameters needed by FDS.