FDS-SMV 6 Beta Testing

It has been over two years since our last official release of version 5 of FDS and Smokeview, and we are ready to start beta testing FDS-SMV 6. Downloads are available at the home page fire.nist.gov/fds. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the appropriate links.

Our primary interest in beta testing the new release is to determine if there is sufficient documentation to convert FDS 5 input files into FDS 6 input files. In general, the major parameters are the same, and the basic syntax of the input file is the same. However, some of the sub-models are significantly different, and there is no easy way to maintain perfect backward compatibility in FDS (Smokeview, in general, is backward compatible). By issuing error statements at start up, we want to alert you to important changes, which is why we prefer to stop the program with an error statement rather than accepting an outdated parameter or construct.

For those interested in helping with the beta testing, download the latest FDS 6 "release candidate" and try to run one of your old cases. Chances are that you will receive an error message. Chapter 1 of the new FDS User's Guide has a table that lists all of the parameters that have changed from FDS 5 to 6. We would like you to tell us how easy or difficult you find the conversion process, and whether or not the changes are well-documented. If you would like to be listed as a beta tester, send us via an email your name and affiliation, and we will compile a list in the new FDS User's Guide.

You can report your findings directly to us via email, or you can also start an Issue Tracker or Discussion Group thread. The latter two are preferable so that we can all learn about the changes in FDS and Smokeview. This will also provide us with the opportunity to describe in more detail the changes that have been made. Many of these changes are "under the hood," so to speak; that is, there have been changes to core algorithms that may not be apparent at first glance. But we can discuss these improvements as we look at your cases.