FSETools Documentation

Introduction

FSETools compiles several Fire Safety Engineering tools. Mostly based on contemporary guidance documents (e.g. ADB / BS 9999 / BS 7974). Users are expected to have a thorough understanding of the methodologies behind these tools.

Main Window Layout

A good figure worth thousands words.

_images/main-window-layout.png

Fig. 1 A sketch of the main window layout of FSETools

Table 1 Main UI components

Component

Description

Frame

The topmost bar of the main window housing title and min/max/exit buttons.

Menu Bar

A horizontally oriented menu bar housing all options in form of dropdown menus.

Side Menu

A vertically oriented tree menu housing shortcut for activating useful tools (also see Calculation Node Layout).

Viewport

A viewport area allows the users to see calculation inputs and outputs etc. Can be toggled visible/hidden by View -> Side Menu.

Console

A command-line style area to display various information, e.g. calculation errors/warnings etc. Can be toggled visible/hidden by View -> Console.

Status Bar

The bottom bar of the main window. The last line in the Console will be displayed on this bar for 5 seconds. Version info, viewport location and zoom are displayed on the right end (click these text to reveal extra info/options).

Calculation Node Layout

Most of the calculation modules hosted within the Side Menu (see Fig. 1) share a common layout as per Fig. 2 for consistency.

_images/common-calc-node-layout.png

Fig. 2 A sketch of Calculation Node common layout

Keyboard Shortcuts

Table 2 Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut

Effect

Ctrl + A

Select all items

Ctrl + C

Copy selected item(s)

Ctrl + V

Paste copied item(s)

Del

Delete selected item(s)

Ctrl + O

Open a saved file

Ctrl + S

Save current scene to a file

Ctrl + Shift + S

To save current scene to a new file

R

To create a Room node. Requires B101 License.

D

To create a Door node. Requires B101 License.

E

To create an Exit node. Requires B101 License.

S

To create a Stair node. Requires B101 License.

X

To create a X node. Requires B101 License.

Ctrl + Shift + R

To toggle b101 visualisation. Requires B101 License.

Ctrl + R

To update b101 flow (also switch on visualisation). Requires B101 License.

Mouse Action and Effect

Note

Most items in Table 3 works only when Viewport is focused. Click any blank area in Viewport to gain focus.

Table 3 Mouse actions

Action

Effect

Left button press

To select a single item

Left button hold + move

To select multiple items

Right button press

To call context menu depending upon selection

Middle button hold + move

Move viewport

B101 License

B101 is still a work in progress and therefore supplied with limited access to testers. Contact Ian if you are interested in testing B101 (a 30 minutes training is required for new starters). Upon agreement, follow the three simple steps below to obtain and install a B101 license file:

  1. Click Help -> About to get the specification data displayed in Console, formatted as per below.

    About FSETools:
FSETools 0.1.1 202112312253
Expires in 364 day(s), 2 hour(s) and 9 minute(s)
UID 00000000-0000-0000-0000-XXXXXXXXXXXX
Root C:\Program Files (x86)\FSETOOLSGUI

  2. Send this information (particularly version and UID) to Ian to request a licence file (named b101.fselic and do not change this file name).

  3. First save the license file b101.fselic to an accessible folder (e.g., Desktop or Downloads). Then move the file to the root folder (shown in Step 1).

Note

Step 3 requires administrator access.

Upon completion of the steps above, press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+B to show/activate B101 toolbar (press again to ] hide/deactivate). All B101 features will be accessible when the toolbar is visible (as well as the shortcuts in Table 2).

Note

A license file only works for a specific version on a specific machine, meaning that upgrading FSETools or running the software on a different machine will require a new license file.

B101 toolbar

Installation

Download and execute FSETOOLSGUI installer.

Setup: Installer

You may see a pop-up dialog window asking to uninstall previous versions (if exist). After pressed the Yes button, wait 10 seconds before move onto the next step for the uninstallation to complete.

Setup: Uninstall previous version

Click Next to start installation then wait for the installation progress to complete.

Setup: Welcome

Installation complete, click Finish to close the installer.

Setup: Complete

The application should be able to run.

Setup: FSETools

Release

Release Note

This file documents the release history of fsetoolsgui.

Version History

XX/XX/2022 VERSION X.X.X:

For future development.

  • [ ] [New] EN1993ExtColWidget BS EN 1993-1-2 external column temperature.

  • [ ] [New] EN1993ExtBeamWidget BS EN 1993-1-2 external beam temperature.

  • [ ] [New] SafirStruct3DPostWidget SAFIR Struct3d Post Processor Strain, converted from previous version.

  • [ ] [New] Redo and Undo.

  • [ ] [Optim.] Migrate to Qt6 (from Qt5).

  • [ ] [Misc.] Monetization.

XX/01/2022 VERSION 0.1.2:

  • [x] [Fix]DistSelectorWidget fixed plot does not show up in 0.1.1.

  • [x] [Optim.] New custom plot module based on Qt.QtCharts replacing pyqtgraph.

02/01/2022 VERSION 0.1.1:

  • [x] [New] Integrated B101 module for exit capacity calculation and visualisation.

  • [x] [New] NodeList B101 Node Table to enhance efficiency editing/reviewing B101 nodes and their values.

    • [x] Dedicated QDialog UI.

    • [x] Update the item in the Table upon changes made in the View/Scene.

    • [x] Update the item in the View/Scene upon changes made in the Table.

    • [x] Centre item in the View upon select in the Table.

    • [x] Remove items in the View/Scene also remove in the Table.

  • [x] [New] PRAPostFireWidget migrated from previous version.

  • [x] [Fix] Fixed B101 nodes horizontal and vertical alignment issues due to double counting item geometry.

16/12/2021 VERSION 0.1:

  • [x] [New] Refreshed user interface.

  • [x] [New] Added save and load feature.

  • [x] [New] PRAPostFireWidget migrated from previous version.

  • [x] [New] BR187PerpendicularRoofWidget migrated from previous version.

  • [x] [New] StefanBoltzmannLawWidget.

  • [x] [New] ImageWidget.

  • [x] [New] FDSMeshMPIOptimWidget.

  • [x] [New] ExternalModuleWidget.

  • [x] [New] BR187SummaryWidget.

  • [x] [New] BR187PerpendicularWallWidget.

  • [x] [New] FSEKitchenHobWidget.

  • [x] [New] macOS support.

04/09/2021 VERSION: 0.0.9

This is an accumulated node since 0.0.4.

  • [x] [New] FDS mesh mpi optimiser.

  • [x] [New] Probability distribution.

  • [x] [New] ISO834FireWidget ISO 834 fire.

  • [x] [New] PRAPreWidget SFEPRAPY pre-processor.

  • [x] [New] PRAProcWidget SFEPRAPY processor.

  • [x] [New] PRAPostWidget SFEPRAPY post-processor.

  • [x] [Fix] PD7974HDActWidget PD 7974 heat detector device activation time, fixed incorrect image being displayed.

16/06/2020 VERSION: 0.0.4

  • [x] [New] 0103 BS 9999 merging flow at final exit level.

  • [x] [New] 0104 ADB merging flow at final exit level.

  • [x] [New] 0407 TRA cuboid enclosure model.

  • [x] [New] 0611 EC 1991-1-2 parametric fire generator.

  • [x] [Fix] Fixed an issue where the update download url label no responses when clicked.

  • [x] [Improve] 0401, 0402, 0403 & 0404: Added critical heat flux input parameter.

  • [x] [Improve] Installer: Interface optimisation.

14/02/2020 VERSION: 0.0.1

  • [x] 0101 ADB data sheet.

  • [x] 0102 BS 9999 data sheet.

  • [x] 0111 PD 7974 heat detector activation time.

  • [x] 0401 BR 187 parallel simple.

  • [x] 0402 BR 187 perpendicular simple.

  • [x] 0403 BR 187 parallel complex.

  • [x] 0404 BR 187 perpendicular complex.

  • [x] 0405 general thermal radiation analysis.

    • [x] Calculation checked.

  • [x] 0601 OFR naming.

  • [x] 0602 PD 7974 flame height.

    • [x] Calculation checked.

  • [x] 0111 implemented display numerical results in the table.

  • [x] 0111 implemented graphical output.

  • [x] Converted all independent modules into QMainWindow objects, i.e. to have a status bar.

  • [x] Installer for MS Windows.

  • [x] All output files are set to read only.

  • [x] Shortcut for all module GUI windows press ESC to close.

  • [x] Implemented error handling.

  • [x] Implemented check GUI tip texts.

Checklist before release

  1. Update version number fsetoolsGUI.project_info.__version__.

  2. Build executable using pyinstaller (make sure unnecessary files are removed).

  3. Build NSIS installer.

  4. Install and test the program:

    1. The previous version uninstalls successfully.

    2. Test b101.fselic.

    3. Load v_fsetoolsGUI\calc\all.fse without issues.

    4. Load v_fsetoolsGUI\b101\std.fse and run Flow without issues.

    5. Save without issues.

  5. Update remote update file as necessary.

  6. Update doc as necessary.

  7. Commit and pull to master.