Purpose and use of Smokeview:

Smokeview is used to visualize how the resulting smoke and heat from the combustion of specified materials flow throughout a structure. For example, the screenshot on the home page is modeled after an actual townhouse fire. In this townhouse case, two firemen were killed when they opened a door and hot air flowed in their direction. Smokeview predicted that opening that door would create such a movement of hot air that would be fatal.

In addition to showing the smoke particulates and gas flow, smokeview also shows the boundary temperature, and the temps at a given slice through the structure. The specifications for the location of the slice must be input into FDS, so that a data file is created and smokeview displays this when this option is chosen while running smokeview.

To create the files that smokeview uses, one would first create the initial file that describes in detail the dimensions of the structure, materials used in the construction, all vents and blockages, doors, windows etc. There is also an option for a sprinkler system in the program if the building has one, or if the effects of one would like to be seen. This file is input into FDS. FDS then crunches the data, then smokeview displays this data graphically. The following is the sample initial file input to FDS for the simple townhouse case:

a&HEAD CHID='townhouse2',TITLE='Town House Kitchen Fire' /
&GRID IBAR=48,JBAR=64,KBAR=48 /
&PDIM XBAR=6.4,YBAR=8.0,ZBAR=4.8 /
&TIME TWFIN=1200.0 /
&MISC REACTION='WOOD',SURF_DEFAULT='PINE',NFRAMES=2400,
      DATABASE='../../bin/database2.data' /
&SURF ID='BURNER',HRRPUA=3000. /

&VENT XB=0.0,0.3,1.00,1.50,0.9,0.9,SURF_ID='BURNER' /
&VENT XB=3.4,4.2,0.00,0.00,3.2,4.0,SURF_ID='OPEN' /
&VENT XB=1.2,2.0,0.00,0.00,3.2,4.0,SURF_ID='OPEN' /
&VENT XB=3.0,3.8,8.00,8.00,3.2,4.0,SURF_ID='OPEN' /
&VENT XB=1.2,2.0,8.00,8.00,3.2,4.0,SURF_ID='OPEN' /
&VENT XB=4.0,4.8,8.00,8.00,0.0,2.2,SURF_ID='OPEN' /

&OBST XB=0.0,1.1,0.00,0.25,1.5,2.3/  floor 
&OBST XB=0.0,0.2,0.25,2.75,1.5,2.3/
&OBST XB=0.0,3.6,2.75,3.75,0.0,2.3/
&OBST XB=2.933330, 3.066670, 0.000000, 1.500000, 1.500000, 2.300000/
&OBST XB=2.4,3.1,0.00,1.75,0.0,0.9/
&OBST XB=0.000000, 2.400000, 0.000000, 0.750000, 0.000000, 0.900000/
&OBST XB=0.0,0.6,0.75,2.75,0.0,0.9/
&OBST XB=3.466670, 5.200000, 3.625000, 3.750000, 2.000000, 2.300000/
&OBST XB=5.066670, 5.200000, 3.625000, 5.500000, 0.000000, 2.300000/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,6.50,6.75,0.0,0.2/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,6.25,6.50,0.0,0.4/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,6.00,6.25,0.0,0.6/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.75,6.00,0.0,0.8/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.50,5.75,0.0,1.0/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.25,5.50,0.0,1.2/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.00,5.25,0.0,1.4/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,4.75,5.00,0.0,1.6/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,4.50,4.75,0.0,1.8/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,4.25,4.50,0.0,2.0/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,4.00,4.25,0.0,2.2/
&OBST XB=5.200000, 6.400000, 3.625000, 4.000000, 0.000000, 2.500000/
&OBST XB=5.200000, 6.400000, 2.375000, 3.000000, 2.500000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=5.066670, 5.200000, 4.250000, 8.000000, 2.500000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,6.25,8.00,2.3,4.8/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,6.00,6.25,2.6,4.8/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.75,6.00,2.8,4.8/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.50,5.75,3.0,4.8/
&OBST XB=5.2,6.4,5.25,5.50,3.2,4.8/
&OBST XB=0.0,5.2,0.00,8.00,2.3,2.5/
&OBST XB=2.533330, 2.666670, 0.000000, 2.500000, 2.500000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=0.000000, 4.000000, 3.500000, 4.375000, 2.500000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=5.200000, 6.400000, 0.000000, 3.625000, 2.300000, 2.500000/
&OBST XB=4.000000, 5.066670, 4.250000, 4.375000, 4.400000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=2.666670, 4.000000, 2.375000, 2.500000, 2.500000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=3.866670, 4.000000, 2.500000, 3.500000, 4.400000, 4.800000/
&OBST XB=4.000000, 5.200000, 2.375000, 2.500000, 4.400000, 4.800000/

&SLCF XB=0.00,6.40,1.50,1.5,0.00,4.80,QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE',VECTOR=.TRUE. /
&SLCF XB=0.00,6.40,0.00,8.0,2.20,2.20,QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE' /
&SLCF XB=0.00,6.40,0.00,8.0,4.60,4.60,QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE',VECTOR=.TRUE. /
&SLCF XB=4.40,4.40,0.00,8.0,0.00,4.80,QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE' /
&SLCF XB=5.80,5.80,0.00,8.0,0.00,4.80,QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE' /

&BNDF QUANTITY='HEAT_FLUX',DTSAM=0.5 /
&BNDF QUANTITY='BURNING_RATE' /

&OBST XB=4.000000, 5.066670, 4.250000, 4.375000, 2.500000, 4.400000,BLOCK_COLOR='BLUE',T_OPEN=240. /

This file is then input into FDS using a command like this: fds > townhouse2.data

FDS creates all files needed by smokeview. To run smokeview, type: smokeview townhouse2.smv

Smokeview is now running and the menus may be accessed by right clicking in the window. Smokeview as written by Glenn Forney uses the GLUT window and menu system. GLUT is designed to get OpenGL programs running quickly without too much complication. When the townhouse is loaded an image like this will appear:

Using the menu, different file data on the townhouse may be visualized. Here, the "mixture-fraction" file was selected, showing the fire and smoke propagation and nothing else. In the screenshot on the main page, the "boundary temp" file was selected in addition to this, so the temperaures on the surfaces may be viewed along with the fire and smoke propagation. This is an extremely brief introduction in the basic use of smokeveiw. Fot more information, including downloads of smokeview, documentation and all other information one could possibly want, please visit NIST's smokeview website:

http://www.fire.nist.gov

Here are some short Quicktime videos of the townhouse fire, with and without the boundary temperatures displayed. Unfortunately, the SGI Octane that I was capturing these films on was hiccupping and dropped a number of frames so the motion in these videos is quite jerky. As soon as I figure out why this was happening, I will post new smoother videos.