The smallest project

Introduction

Welcome to Fenix+, a comprehensive application, encompassing tools evacuation modeling, fire dynamics simulation, ASET/RSET analysis, visualisation, and more, all in one platform. This shorter tutorial series will show you the fundamental features of Fenix+, explain some of the logic behind the workflow, and introduce you to our unique features.

Overview

The first tutorial in our series will guide you through a project, containing practically the smallest possible environment you could create and simulate with in Fenix+. This tutorial includes steps to set up the software, create your first project, navigate the interface, populate the scenario with objects, and complete the basic simulations with the minimal amount of necessary elements.

For evacuation simulation - the absolute minimum of objects required are One Occupant and an Exit.

For fire dynamics simulation – a Fire Soure located on the object of the flammable material (such as a Solid object, wall, roof, …) and a Calculation Area.

If these objects are not set, Fenix+ will show an error while trying to run a simulation of each codependence.

For a combined modeling called Risk Calculation – you would need all of the elements mentioned above. Here we will also introduce an element that could be simulated without, but is necessary to view most of the result and perform an ASET/RSET analysis, called a Registering device.

For this tutorial, we’ll also add a more realistic building environment by creating a room with the Walls and a Door, as this will eventually build up to the advanced workflow down the line.

Installation

Before you begin, ensure your system meets the minimum requirements for running Fenix+. For most of our users, Windows versions from the past decade, such as 7, 10, 11 will suffice, alongside the technical specifications such as 2GB of RAM, 200 mb of disk space, and a simple dual-core processor.

To prepare our application for work, proceed with the following steps:

1. Download the installation package from the official website, located in Account (click your username), Downloads.

2. Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.

3. Launch Fenix+ and activate your license by entering the code, which you can find in Account | Licences.

Start a New Project

On the left part of the Start page, click the New project button.

Name your project, specify a save location and click the Create button.

Navigate the project’s interface

For a quick start, you won’t need to know all details of the interface. However, to work through the basic steps, you would need to differentiate the following sections:

The star symbol on the screenshots will represent interface elements used in this tutorial.

Menu Bar – provides access to file management, tools, and settings. For this project you should know that the Save button is located in the File section.

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Control Panel – contains quick-access buttons for common actions, in groups visually separated by the “|” symbol. Such as, from left to right: project editing, scenario editing, common tools like copy/paste/delete, plane controls such as rotation, and, most importantly, the buttons to start the fire dynamics, evacuation, or combined simulations.

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Scenario browser – by default, contains a hierarchical view of the elements placed in the scene.

Drawing toolbar – your main working instruments. In this tutorial you would need to access the following: Selector , Wall , Solid Object , Door , Exit , Occupant , Calculation Area , Fire Source , Registering Device .

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Scene editor – your main view on the modeled object, containing topological and functional elements.

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Additional toolbar – here are located the tools to control the view of the scene editor, as well as other visualisation features. For the simplest simulation you can operate by Move or Zoom. While useful in reference, these operations can be quickly streamlined with hotkeys and a mouse (such as left mouse click and drag; scrollwheel to zoom; and more).

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Define the Project Topology

To visualise a simple box-shaped building with one room, you would need Walls, a Door, and a Solid object (that will serve as a furniture that catches fire for the simulation).

Prepare for drawing:

1. Choose a Floor in which you would start placing new elements by clicking on its name in the scenario browser.
2. Turn on gridlines. This will help you draw a wall of the desired length. For this example, let’s stick with 5 meters. For reference, each grid is exactly 0.5m by 0.5m long, as is shown by the automatically shown ruler in the drawing process.
3. Zoom in to your desired view by using a scrolling wheel on the mouse.

Don’t worry about getting the precise length of objects right. By default, Fenix+ have Snaps turned on for the gridlines, and by close proximity of the mouse, varied length elements will be “snapped” to the nearest intersection of the lines. For our example, this will ensure the ease to count a step of 0.5m.

Start placing objects:

• Draw a Wall. We’ll use a fast option to draw all the four walls with the shape that will create one object. For this,

  1. Select the Wall instrument in the drawing toolbar.
  2. Select the square shape .
  3. Make the first left mouse click inside the scene editor, to any gridline intersection.
  4. Move you mouse horizontally until the ruler shows 5 meters and click the mouse the second time to set the length of the first two opposite sides of our square walls.
  5. Then, move the mouse downwards, counting the lenght of 5 meters, then click for the third time to finish drawing.

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If you would like to redo the drawing, you can use the Selector instrument to choose and delete a placed object, or go by a standard Windows Ctrl+Z hotkey to redo the action.

• Next, insert a Door object in the wall. For this,
  1. Select the Door instrument in the drawing toolbar
  2. Place your mouse on the wall and click it to start selecting the door placement.
  3. To finalize placing a door, make a left mouse click.
  4. Make a right mouse click to close the drawing mode.

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• Place a Solid object inside your room (this will represent your furniture). For this:

  1. Select the Solid Object instrument in the drawing toolbar.
  2. Set a combustible material in Material:. For this example, you can choose Cotton. 3-6. Start drawing the edges of the object by clicking the left mouse button.
  3. Click the right mouse button to finish drawing.

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Occupants in Fenix+, while in evacuation simulation, percieve all floor ground as a possible escape route, only limited by objects encapsulating that space, such as walls, furniture, doors, ladders or other.

Set up and run the Evacuation Simulation

Two necessary elements for the evacuation simulation to take place are Occupants and a functional element of an Exit. During simulation, the program will use an algorithm to determine the route from the starting point of an occupant to the nearest available exit.

For this:

1. Select the Exit instrument in the drawing toolbar and place it in the scene editor by clicking a left mouse button. It’s drawn in the same way as the solid objects from the steps above - left mouse button to start drawing the edges, and a right mouse to exit the drawing mode.

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   We recommend always placing an exit outside of your building model.

2. Place an Occupant.

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3. Run Evacuation simulation by clicking the control panel button with the same name.

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View the simulation processing status

To see and control what stage of processing the simulations are in, go to the Simulation tab below the control bar. There, you will see that the evacuation simulation is either In progress or Complete.

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Set up and run the Fire Dynamics Simulation

Create a fire scenario:

• Select a Fire source element and click with it on top of the previously placed Solid object.

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• Define a Calculation Area. The calculation area in Fenix+ is a special element, serving as a boundary in which the fire will be simulated. Fenix+ sends data to the FDS for processing the fire dynamics model. For this integrated process - calculation area’s cells correspond to the FDS mesh cell elements. While there are lots of options for optimizing it, for now you will note how this element is placed a little bit different. With the default cell size, the smallest “step” for drawing it is 2 by 2 grids in the scene editor, and it is automatically aligned for this to work. The main recommendation is to place the borders of the calculation area outside of your wall buildings, including them only partially in your calculation could result in unwanted results.

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• Click Run fire simulation in the folded view of the simulation list.

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By default, Fenix+ is set to simulate the fire dynamics as if the fire source is burning for 10 seconds. This could be changed later in fire simulation parameters, but it’s important to note for now that this will affect the processing time.

Run Risk Calculation

Now you could run the combined Fire Dynamics and Evacuation Simulation via Fenix+ Risk Calculation.

This combined process in Fenix+ solves multiple problems of a fire and an evacuation affecting each other. One of the key ones is a triggering of an alarm system fitting into the full picture. With the Risk Calculation being run, the order of ran simulation changes, if any alarm systems are set up (represented in Fenix+ by Detectors and a set of settings). A program first models a fire and measures when the dangerous fire factors reach their set limits and detectors will trigger. Then, with the received data the evacuation is simulated with the correct starting time and the program determines the time that all occupants could evacuate. And finally, fire dynamics simulation continues — simulation time is set automatically and the algorithm includes finding out if there’s blocking of the evacuation paths.

By default, the blocking time in Fenix+ is determined along the trajectory of human movement. But, to receive detailed data and measure the factors affecting the evacuating people in the particular spot — place the registering device into your scenario, approximately along the evacuating route. For this, choose the Registering Device instrument and draw a line in the editor by placing its starting and ending points:

After all elements in this tutorial are finally placed — click the Risk calculation button from the folded list below the control panel.

View the results

While the simulations itself are done, getting the right results for your needs includes navigating and analyzing pages that you would need a little more guidance for, provided further down the series of tutorials.

For now, you should know that you can view results in multiple ways:

• Going through the Simulations Results tab, containting tables and graphs. The main element to which comparisons can be made and calculated values are applied will be Registering devices, placed into the scenario, or doors that have registering device quality turned on in it’s properties.
• Working with the Visualisation Tab, which include added visualisations for the scene editor, as well as separate view windows to show simulated results in 3D (Smokeview) or VR.
• Alternatively, you can get the results prepared all together in the static form by generating a Report file.

Save your project

Preserve your progress and resume later – go to File | Save in the Menu Bar. By default, your project files will be located in your Windows Documents folder (For Windows 10, it’s C: | Users | Username | Documents).