Re: Official Release of FDS/Smokeview 3

["Glenn Forney" <glenn.forney@nist.gov>]

my appointment was cancelled so I'll be here this morning.  But I had
another meeting this afternoon so I'll be gone from about 12 to 2:30.  I
would like to show these guys my 3d smoke.
glenn

--
Glenn Forney
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8663
Gaithersburg MD 20899-8663

http://fire.nist.gov/fds


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin McGrattan" <kevin.mcgrattan@nist.gov>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <fdsusers@nist.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 9:08 AM
Subject: Official Release of FDS/Smokeview 3


>
> All
>
> We've put up on the web site (fire.nist.gov/fds) the
> official version 3 release of
> FDS and Smokeview. Everybody should update to this version
> as soon as possible. For
> PC users, you can download the self-installation file and
> run it. Those who have
> installed FDS before need not reboot their computers. The
> only thing that rebooting
> does is to add the fds directory to the computer's search
> path, not necessary since
> this path has already been established. Try out the new
> version (fds3) on the silly3
> test case just to make sure everything copied over
> correctly.
>
> We will maintain version 3 differently than version 2. With
> version 2, we immediately
> made changes to the physics of the model after releasing it,
> so that users of v2
> who found bugs had no choice but to move up to the ``test''
> version that we were
> working on. Obviously, this is a problem since the test
> version is always riddled
> with more bugs. This time with v3, we will maintain it by
> fixing the occasional bug,
> but not making any substantial change to the physics. Thus,
> the ``official'' version
> 3 will be what is on the web site now, and minor fixes will
> be put into, say a
> version 3.01, 3.02, etc, that will sit on the FTP site.
> Links to the FTP site can
> be found at the web site. Read the FAQs for more details.
> Those reporting bugs will
> be pointed to the FTP site, where a new fds3.exe can be
> downloaded. Think of these
> new executables as patches. Note that when running fds3, you
> will see the version
> number and compile date printed out at the top of the
> diagnostic output. When
> reporting bugs, mention these two numbers.
>
> Right now we are working on a parallel version of FDS. This
> new version will
> eventually evolve into FDS 4. It will use MPI (Message
> Passing Interface) to
> enable FDS to be run on multiple computers with distributed
> memory. Our goal is
> to be able to run in parallel, but also still run fast on a
> single CPU. As part of
> our investigation of the World Trade Center collapse, we
> will be validating FDS
> against large compartment fire tests that will be performed
> here at NIST in the
> spring.
>
> Kevin
>
>
> --
> Kevin McGrattan
> National Institute of Standards and Technology
> 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8663
> Gaithersburg MD 20899-8663
>
> Telephone: (301) 975 2712
> FAX:       (301) 975 4052
>