BlenderFDS, an open user interface for the NIST FDS

The new BlenderFDS 1.2.3 stable is out. This BlenderFDS version shall be installed on Blender 2.62 or 2.63. It does not work with prior versions and it is not guaranteed to work with newer ones.

Have you ever passed long hours calculating and typing geometric coordinates of FDS objects by hand? That is a really slow, tedious and error prone procedure. BlenderFDS is the open source graphical interface for FDS that assists the user during the input file preparation.

Subscribe to the discussion group, consult the on-line documentation, report an issue.

BlenderFDS eases data input into the NIST Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS).

FDS is a computational fluid dynamics model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier-Stokes equations appropriate for low-speed, thermally-driven flow, with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fires.

BlenderFDS effort is completely unrelated and independent from FDS development performed at NIST and other organizations. None of these organizations finance, support, endorse, or otherwise recommend BlenderFDS.

The user retains the full control over the FDS input file.

BlenderFDS tool tries to be as flexible as possible, and is intended for those users that already have a basic knowledge on how FDS works, because it does not check the syntax of the data you enter. Geometry and thermophysical properties are modeled in a graphical environment. Pre-existing 2D and 3D data of buildings can be imported from many CAD tools.

BlenderFDS is based on the Blender platform.

BlenderFDS is free and open source. Developed in Python, BlenderFDS is available on Linux, MS Windows, MacOS X platforms.

BlenderFDS is based on Blender, an open source 3D content creation suite. Blender is a complex platform: as with all 3D packages, the learning curve is steep and the average user needs some time to become productive.

From the Community, to the Community.

BlenderFDS development was started by Emanuele Gissi on September 2009. A blueprint was written and shared with the FDS and Blender worldwide communities. Many users from both communities, and from several universities offered their help and now contribute to the effort: Kristopher Overholt, Johannes Dimyadi, Roberto Bartola, Nicola De Santis, Fabrizio Valpreda, Gianluca Faletti, Roberto Orvieto.

BlenderFDS development is public and open. If you wish to become a contributor, please contact Emanuele Gissi for inclusion. Don't be afraid, there is plenty of work available for non-developers, too: documentation, support, translation...

BlenderFDS is provided as it is, and support is community-based. If you need commercial grade support, please refer to good commercial alternatives, as Pyrosim.