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pyfdstools

A Python library for building and post-processing Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) models.

pyfdstools reads every binary output format FDS writes — slice files, boundary files, plot3D, particles, smoke3D, geometry — assembles them across meshes onto a single grid, and hands you numpy arrays. It also reads and writes FDS input files as Python objects, so a model can be generated, edited and re-saved from a script.

It reads results straight out of a zip archive, so simulation output can stay compressed.

New here?

• Installation — pip, source, and the optional extras
• Quick Start — read a slice, plot it, dump it to csv
• Concepts — CHID, working directories, meshes and the absolute grid

Reading results

Page	FDS output
2-D Slice Data	.sf files from &SLCF with a fixed coordinate
3-D Slice Data	.sf files from &SLCF covering a volume
Boundary Data	.bf files from &BNDF, and .be from &GEOM
Plot3D Data	.q and .xyz files from &DUMP
Device and CSV Data	_devc.csv, _hrr.csv and friends
Particle and Smoke3D Data	.prt5 and .s3d files

Working with results

• Plotting — plotSlice, colormaps, highlighting a threshold
• Time Averaging — averaging windows, and writing averaged fields back out for smokeview
• Exporting to ParaView — VTK export of every output type
• Model Uncertainty — applying the FDS validation guide bias and standard deviation

Building models

• Input Files — reading, editing, generating and writing .fds files

Reference

• API Reference — every public routine, grouped by task
• Troubleshooting — what the common errors mean
• Contributing — running the tests, the CI, the layout

Citing

Hodges, J. L., pyFDStools: A Python Package to Assist in Developing and Post-Processing Data Produced Through the Computational Fluid Dynamics Software Fire Dynamics Simulator, (2020), GitHub repository, https://github.com/johodges/pyfdstools.