Plot3D Export Limits and Compatibility with FireX

[XXstand]

Hi FDS community,

I’ve been making extensive use of the Plot3D and vtkhdf5 output features in both FDS and FireX, and I have a couple of questions:

In FDS, the number of quantities that Plot3D can export is limited to 5. Is there a specific reason for this restriction? And is it possible to extend that number?

In FireX, I noticed that Plot3D and VTK outputs can’t be exported simultaneously, since they come from different conditional branches in FDS. Would it be possible in the future to enable Plot3D output in FireX as well, so that results can be visualized directly in ParaView?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

[drjfloyd]

Plot3D is an old NASA CFD file format from the early 80s. The format is fixed to five parameters. In the early days of FDS, popular plotting tools like TecPlot supported the Plot3D format. Since then, we have added the 3D slice capability where you can output any number of quantities in 3D you want.

[johodges]

Two additional comments on this.

1. Any 3-D slices that you define will also be written as VTKHDF outputs that can be visualized in paraview if you are using this feature.
2. You can write out both the SMV and VTKHDF outputs by setting WRITE_FORMAT='BOTH' on the DUMP line.

We could change the VTKHDF implementation to still output Plot3D if DT_PL3D is set regardless of whether the WRITE_FORMAT is VTK or SMV.

[XXstand]

Thanks so much for the quick response—I really appreciate it!

I got completely stuck in Plot3D and totally forgot about the 3D slice. I’ll continue testing the 3D slice features in FireX. Your tips are very helpful and much appreciated!