Application Settings

This chapter describes how to configure general application settings, linear size settings, paste settings, Fenix Server connection settings, and etc.

General Settings

To change the general settings, navigate to Settings | Application Settings.

Section Enable Autosave

If the Enable Autosave box is checked, the Fenix+ 3 application automatically saves the project that is currently being worked on at a specified time interval.

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Saving a large project requires some time. During this time, the project is unavailable for editing. Therefore, when working with large projects, it is not recommended to set short autosave intervals.

Text Settings

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There are two caption display modes in the Fenix+ 3 application:

1. Constant size on screen (used by default). In this case, regardless of the scene scale, the text and caption size (in pixels) on the screen is always the same. Accordingly, the text size in the world coordinate system (in meters) will vary with different scene scales.
2. Constant size in the world coordinate system. In this case, the text size in the world coordinate system is constant, but the size on the screen changes depending on the scene scale.

Depending on the selected mode, the Size text property is interpreted differently. For details, see the Text section.

In the first case, this is the standard font size accepted in text editors, and in the second, it is the maximum height of font symbols in meters.

The default text size is set in the field next to the name of the corresponding mode.

This size is also used when creating automatic text when generating a report. For example, registering devices signatures. For details, see Images section.

Since the display mode is an application setting, there might be situations where, when opening the same project on different PCs, text is displayed differently. This happens if the display mode on the PC where the project was created differs from the one set on the PC where the project is opened. In such cases, changing the display mode is sufficient.

FDS Settings

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To conduct a Fire Dynamics Simulation, it is necessary to configure FDS settings.

When you first launch the Fenix+ 3 application, the parameters necessary for FDS operation are initialized - the paths to the FDS executable files are determined.

In some cases, such as non-standard application installation ways, incorrect values may be assigned to parameters. Therefore, before starting the fire dynamics simulation, it is recommended to check the necessary parameters and adjust them if necessary.

Description of FDS parameters:

• fds.exe — path to the FDS executable file.

The application uses this executable file for running simulation in both single thread and multi-thread modes.

• smokeview.exe — path to the Smokeview executable file (necessary to visualize the calculation results).

• mpiexec.exe — path to the MPICH2 library executable file, which is required for multi-thread mode of the fire dynamics simulation.

The application uses the executable file mpiexec.exe to run fire dynamics simulation in multi-thread mode. For details, see Setting Fire Dynamics Simulation Parameters.

If some values are not specified, you can enter them manually. To do this, click the Browse… button next to the corresponding parameter and specify the path to the required file.

In addition to specifying the paths to the executable files fds.exe and mpiexec.exe, you may need to add them to the permissions list of the Windows Firewall and installed antivirus.

There are two ways to add permissions to the firewall:

1. Launch the firewall and manually create a rule for the fds5_mpi.exe, fds.exe and mpiexec.exe applications specified in the FDS settings window.
2. Allow access in the window that appears when you first run the fire dynamics simulation in multi-thread mode.

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Updates

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If the Check for updates automatically at startup checkbox is enabled, Fenix+ 3 sends a request to the mst.su website to check for an official application update each time the application is started. This checkbox is enabled by default. Disabling this feature can reduce the time required to launch the application if there is no Internet access or if the connection is very poor.

Report

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You can select one of the following application actions to be performed after generating a report:

• Open the Report Using the Application (by default, the path to the executable file of the application that is selected in the system for opening files in DOCX format is specified);
• Open Folder with Report;
• To Do Nothing

In the Report Template Profiles section, in the Default Profile field, you can select the profile that the application uses by default when creating a report. A report template profile is a set of files in DOCX format with prepared design and content. Each file determines the display of a part of the report. You can change the formatting and content of these files to make changes to your report.

By default, when creating a report, the application uses the Fenix+ ​​Standard report template profile. The files for this profile are located in the C:\Program Files\MST\Program_Edition_Fenix+3\ReportTemplates folder. These files are not editable. To make changes to the report, you need to copy these files to another folder, edit the text and/or change the formatting, and then create a new profile with these files.

To add a new report template profile, click the Add button, in the Report Template Profile window, specify the name of the template and the folder in which the new template files are located. The Files field displays a list of all template files located in the selected folder. To finish, click the Create button.

To view information about a report template profile, select the desired profile in the Available Profiles list and click the Properties button. The window that opens displays information about the location of the folder in which the files for this report template are stored, as well as a complete list of all template files.

To delete a report template profile, in the Available profiles field, select the desired profile and click the Delete button. You cannot delete the report template profile Fenix+ ​​Standard.

Fire results presentation

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When viewing the results of fire dynamics simulation, the presentation of the displayed dangerous fire factors (DFF) on the graph may differ.

If similar DFFs are selected (for example, temperature or visibility), the application can display either their absolute values or their values relative to the critical value. In the first case, the graph displays actual values of the selected DFF, and the red line shows its critical value. In the second case, values of the selected DFF are displayed in relation to the critical value, which equals to 1.

To display absolute values of the seclected DFF, select the Absolute option. To display values in comparison to the critical value, select the Relative to critical value option.

When you select different DFFs (for example, temperature and visibility), values are always displayed in relation to the critical value. For more information, see Fire Dynamics Simulation Results.

For the convenience of analyzing the fire dynamics simulation results, you can select the desired graph display mode. The following options are available:

• Point;

• Line.

You can use the following presentations for the fields of DFFs:

• Continuous gradient - the DFF field is an image in which the color of each point corresponds to the DFF value. All values of the DFF that exceed the critical value are indicated in red. Default (safe) DFF values are displayed in blue. All colors used, as well as the top and bottom boundaries of the range of DFF values ​​are presented on a scale of values.

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• Discrete intervals (selected by default) - the field is an image where different value ranges of the DFF ​​are indicated by different colors without a gradient. The critical value corresponds to the boundary at which the transition occurs between the intervals where the DFF exceeds or does not exceed the critical value. All colors used, as well as their corresponding ranges of values, are presented on a scale of values.

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Project Verification

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This section is used for setting up the project verification tool. For information, see the Project Verification section

In the project verification settings, you can specify what verification procedures the application performs.

By default, all checks are enabled and are always performed before simulating evacuation and fire dynamics.

If automatic project verification before fire dynamics simulation is enabled, general checks and checks for fire dynamics simulation are performed. If automatic verification before evacuation simulation is enabled, general checks and checks for evacuation simulation are performed.

Checks for critical errors in the settings window are highlighted in red. These checks cannot be disabled.

Regardless of whether automatic verification before simulation is enabled, checks for critical errors are always performed before conducting a simulation. Checks for possible errors and inaccuracies are only performed if the corresponding automatic check is enabled.

When hovering the mouse cursor over the name of the check in the Verification Purpose field, a description of the check appears, as well as the errors or inaccuracies that the check is used to detect.

Rendering Modes

Use these settings to configure the thickness of lines that are used when displaying objects.

You can change the thickness of the lines in the range from 0.10 to 5 pixels. By default, the line thickness is 1.5 pixels.

References

To specify the materials and people profile database, materials and people profiles from which will be used in the project (User Database), click the Browse button and specify the path to the required database. By default, the databases located in the C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\MST\\DataBases folder are used as user databases.

There are two modes for using the database:

1. Use one database for all projects. In this case, the same database is used for all projects. If the material and people profile parameters change in one of the projects, they are changed in all other projects where the same materials and people profiles are used. This change occurs the moment you open another project. This mode is the default.
2. Create a copy of the database for each project. In this case, when creating a project, the DataBases folder is created in the project folder, which contains a copy of the User Database. Further, all changes to the properties of materials or people profilea is only in these databases and does not apply to other projects. For details, see Project Directory Structure.

To save the changes made, click Apply.

Linear Size Settings

In the Fenix+ 3 application, you can configure linear size settings of the objects on the scene. For this, navigate to Settings | Linear sizes. The following window opens.

You can configure the following options:

• Color/thickness of dimension and extension lines;

• Color of dimension numbers;

• Thickness of dimension and extension lines;

• Measure unit.

To save changes, click Apply.

Object Paste Settings

To configure object paste settings in the application, navigate to Tools | Settings. The following window opens.

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In the Fenix+ 3 application, there are two modes for pasting objects on the scene:

1. At the center of the scene editor - when pasting, object copies are placed on the scene so that they are in the center of the scene editor.
2. With fixed offset - when pasting, object copies are placed on the scene with an offset along the X, Y and Z axes relative to the position of the objects themselves. The offset along each axes is specified in the corresponding field.

To ensure that when pasting walls copied from other floors, their height is adjusted (decreased or increased) in accordance with the height of the floor to which copying occurs, check the Adjust the height of walls according to the height of the floor checkbox. If the height of the wall differs from the height of the floor from which copying occurs, then no adjustment occurs.

To save changes, click Apply.

Fenix Server Connection Settings

To configure connections to the Fenix ​​Server software package, navigate to the simulation control tab in the Connections to Fenix ​​Server section.

To add a new connection, do the following:

1. Click Add.

2. If necessary, edit the default connection name in the opened window.

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3. Specify the host computer in accordance with the following recommendations:

• If Fenix Server software package, to which you want to add a connection, is installed on your workstation, enter the address 127.0.0.1 as the host.

• If Fenix Server is installed on a local network, specify the IP address of the PC on which it is installed.

• If Fenix Server is installed on a remote server, enter the ip address of the remote server. If you do not know the IP address of the remote server, contact your system administrator.

4. Click OK.

A window appears in which you must enter the username and password with which you connect to the server.

или [Authentication credentials]

5. To complete the setup, click OK.

A new connection is created.

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For the configured connection, detailed information about the computing resources and the current load of the Fenix Server software package is displayed.

You can use more than one Fenix Server software packages to conduct evacuation and fire dynamics simulations. In this case, you should configure a separate connection for each Fenix Server software package you want to use.

To create a connection for another Fenix Server software package, click Add and repeat the steps described above.

To edit connection settings, select the name of the desired connection, click Parameters and change the necessary values in the window that opens.

To delete a connection, select the name of the desired connection and click Delete .

If there is no need to use external resources to conduct simulation, you can make the connection inactive. For this, in the window for changing connection settings, uncheck the Used for simulation checkbox for the corresponding connection.

Appication Interface Language

To change interface appication language, navigate to Settings | Language and check the box next to the desired language.

The changes take effect the next time you start the application.