DNV SOFTWARE

PHAST Getting Started Manual

Chapter 1: A Quick Tour of the Main Features

PHAST Getting Started Manual Chapter 1: A Quick Tour of the Main Features

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Starting PHAST .................................................................................................................. 2 The PHAST Window.......................................................................................................... 3 Opening an Example Study Folder ..................................................................................... 4 The Study Tree Pane........................................................................................................... 5 Viewing Input Data............................................................................................................. 9 Running the Calculations.................................................................................................. 17 Viewing the Results .......................................................................................................... 18 Saving the Example Study Folder..................................................................................... 23

Introduction
This manual will lead you through the main features of PHAST and PHAST Micro, by opening a pre-defined case so that you can view input data, run calculations and examine the results.

All Examples are from PHAST Micro

There are two versions of PHAST, and this manual covers both of them. PHAST Micro is the simpler version, containing DNVs sophisticated dispersion modelling in full, but with some limitations to the options in other areas of the modelling. PHAST is the fullyfeatured version, offering control over most aspects of the modelling, and including stand-alone versions of the fire, explosion and pool vaporization models that are built into the integrated dispersion modelling. All of the examples in this chapter are based on PHAST Micro and are fully applicable to that version. If you are using PHAST, you will see some features in your program that do not appear in the illustrations and are not described in the text. Instruction on these features are given in the PHAST Introductory Training Course. For details on the PHAST training courses please contact your local Technical Support centre.

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Starting PHAST
When you install PHAST, the installation routine places a DNV folder under Programs in your Start menu, and you can start PHAST running by selecting the icon from the folder.

The start menu

The installation routine also places a PHAST icon on the desktop so you can also start

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The PHAST Window

When you start PHAST running, the PHAST Window will open, as shown:

The PHAST Window on Startup

The window opens with no Study Folder loaded (a Study Folder is a file that contains the definition of a collection of consequence modelling calculations and you must open or create a Study Folder file before you can perform any modelling work with PHAST). In the Message Log, the program reports on the security checks, with either Security OK or Security failed. If the security has failed, you will not be able to save any changes to input data or run any of the calculations, although you will be able to view the features of the program that do not involve calculations. If you have problems with your security please contact your local Technical Support office. This manual assumes that the security has been set up correctly.

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Opening an Example Study Folder

In this chapter, you will open one of the Example Study Folders that are supplied with the program for a quick introduction to the terminology and approach used in PHAST. In the next chapter you will create a new Study Folder and perform a simple worst case analysis. To open an Example Study Folder, choose Open Example from the File menu. A dialog will appear as shown, listing the Example Study Folders supplied, each of which has the file extension PSU. Choose the Study Folder called Example, which is one of the simplest, supplied. When you click on Open, you will be returned to the PHAST window. Some messages will appear in the Message tab section in the Log Window pane along the bottom of Choosing the Example Study Folder the window, reporting on the process of opening and checking the Study Folder, and then the Study Tree pane will open along the left side of the window, showing the structure of the Example Study Folder, as in the illustration below.

The PHAST Window with a Study Folder Open

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The Study Tree Pane

The Study Tree Pane allows you to organize and edit the values that are used in the calculations. It appears along the left side of the window whenever you have a Study Folder open, as shown in the illustration on the previous page. If you close the Study Folder, the pane will disappear. The pane contains a number of tab sections, each of which covers a different type of input data:

Models Tab Section

You use this tab section to add Models to the Study Folder, where each Model represents a different hazardous release for processing through the consequence modelling. The illustration on the previous page shows the eight models in the Example Study Folder; the first four represent different release scenarios for a chlorine vessel, and the last four represent the equivalent scenarios for a butadiene vessel.

This tab section contains a tree with several levels. The top level represents the entire Study Folder, with the name Example. If you click on the icon for the Study Folder, you will see that the red Study icon becomes enabled in the Toolbar:

You can use this icon to add a Study to the tree, and this can be useful if your Study Folder contains hundreds of models and you want to organize them in different groups. For a simple Study Folder such as the Example Study Folder, a single Study (also named Example) is sufficient.

The Study is the second level of the tree, and each new Study Folder is always created with one Study already defined, since each model must be assigned to a Study. If you click on the icon for a Study, you will see that the Folder icon and the blue Vessel and Pipe Source Model icon become enabled in the Toolbar:

You can use the Folder icon to organize models within a Study, and you can have multiple levels of Folders; the simple Example Study Folder does not use any folders. You use the Model icon to add a new Model to the Study Folder, placing it inside the current Study, or the current Folder. It is probably the most important tool in PHAST, and you will use it in Tutorial 1, in the next chapter.

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Weather Tab Section

Click on the Weather tab to move to the Weather tab section. This tab section shows the weather conditions that have been defined and can be used in the consequence modelling. You can define any number of weather conditions and then select between them for a particular run of the consequence calculations. The tree in the Weather tab section shares the top levels of its structure with the tree in the Models tab section, so that if you add a Study to the Study Folder in Weather Tab Section either section then it will appear in the tree in the other section. However, the lower levels are not shared, and you can have different structures of Folders in each tab section. If you click on the icon for a Study, you will see that the Folder icon and the yellow and blue Weather icon become enabled in the Toolbar:

You use the Weather icon to add a new definition of weather conditions to the Study Folder, placing it inside the current Study, or the current Folder. However, each new Study Folder is created with three default weathers already defined, and for most work it may be sufficient to edit these, rather than creating any additional weathers.

Parameters Tab Section

If you are running PHAST you will see a parameter tab in your Study Tree. The parameters are not available to view or edit in PHAST Micro.

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Materials Tab Section

Click on the Materials tab to move to the Materials tab section. The Materials Property system in PHAST is based around a three level hierarchy, with only the bottom two levels of the hierarchy visible in the Materials tab section.

Materials Tab Section

The top level is the System level, which is the central store for all PHAST Property data supplied with the program, and which is not visible in the Materials tab section. If your copy of PHAST is installed on a network, then the System values will also be on the network, and will be shared between all people using PHAST network data. The System values can only be changed by an Administrator using the special administration options, which are described in the online Help. The next level is the Global level, which applies to an entire Study Folder. When you add a material to Global Materials folder in the Materials tab section, PHAST creates a copy of the material inside that Study Folder, using the values from the System level as defaults. PHAST will add a material to the Global list the first time you use it in a Study Folder, but you can also add materials yourself, using the two Materials icons that appear in the Toolbar when you have the Global Materials folder selected in the Materials tab section:

The Example Study Folder only uses two materials in its modelschlorine and butadienebut you can see that there are many more in the Global list, and these were added using the icons in the Toolbar. You can edit the values for the Global version of the material, as described later in this chapter, and these edits will be used throughout the Study Folder. The lowest level in the hierarchy is the Local level. PHAST creates a Local Materials folder for each Study in the Study Folder, and you use these if you want to create a version of a particular material that will be used only by that Study, while all other Studies use the Global version. You can add a material to the Local Materials folder

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either by copying and pasting from the Global list using the Edit menu, or by using the Materials icons that appear in the Toolbar when you select the Local Materials folder. PHAST knows which fields for the Local material have not been edited and therefore still have the default values taken from the Global level. If you edit a field for a Global material, PHAST will update the field for any Local versions that are still using the Global default.

Map Tab Section

Click on the Map tab to move to the Map tab section. This tab section shows the maps that have been defined and on which you can superimpose consequence results. You can define any number of maps and then select between them when viewing a particular set of consequence results. The tree in the Map tab section shares the top levels of its structure with the trees in the Models and Weather tab sections, Map Tab Section so that if you add a Study to the Study Folder in any section then it will appear in the tree in the other sections. However, the lower levels are not shared, and you can have different structures of Folders in each tab section. If you click on the icon for a Study, you will see that the Folder icon and the Map icon become enabled in the Toolbar:

You use the Map icon to add a new Map to the Study Folder, placing it inside the current Study, or the current Folder. Each new Study Folder is created without any Map defined, so you must create a new Map if you want to view any map-based results.

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Viewing Input Data

The section above described the organization of the different types of input data, and this section describes how to open the dialogs for the input data and view the values that are set for the Example Study Folder. In the next chapter, you will set values when working on a tutorial analysis.

Setting the Default Units

Before you start viewing the input data, you should set the default units for PHAST to your preferred system of units. As you will see later, you can change the units for a given item of data from inside the input dialogs, but it is much easier to set a default system that will be used throughout PHAST, including any dialogs and results. To set the default system, choose Select Another System from the Units cascade in the Options menu. A dialog will appear, as shown in the illustration on the next page. PHAST is supplied with four predefined systems of units, but you can also edit these to create your own. At this stage, simply choose the pre-defined system that is closest to your preferences, and click on Make selected system current to set this as the default system throughout PHAST. The examples in this chapter use the USER system, which are mostly Metric units.

Setting Default Units

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Getting Help on the Input Data

PHAST has a large set of input data. This gives it the flexibility to model a wide range of releases and situations, but can be confusing at first. If you are unsure of the purpose of a particular dialog or field, you can use the context-sensitive online Help to get a description. Most dialogs have a Help button at the bottom right. When you click on this, the Help window will appear, with the Help topic for that dialog displayed in the right-hand pane, as shown:

Online Help on a Dialog

Most dialogs also have a Whats This Help button in the form of a question mark at the right of the title bar:

A Whats This Help button in a Title Bar

If you click on this button, the cursor will change to a question mark, showing that you are in Whats This Help mode, and if you then click on a field in the dialog, a popup window will appear over the field, describing the field and giving advice on values, as shown here.
Whats This Help on an input field

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The popup window will disappear the next time you click with the mouse. You will see both of these features in the dialogs that are described below. You can also bring up the Whats This Help for a field by pressing the F1 key while the cursor is on that field. In addition, if you press the F1 key again while the Whats This Help is being displayed, the Help window will appear, displaying the Help Topic for the dialog, as described on the previous page. You may find the F1 key more convenient than the buttons for accessing the Help system.

Input Data for a Model

In the Models tab section, double-click on the icon for the CL2 RUPTURE model. The Model Data dialog will open, as shown in the illustration on the next page. The full set of input data is large, and is divided over many tab sections. The illustration shows the tab section for Material data, where you set the material that is released, the amount released, and the process or storage conditions at the time of the accidental event which leads to the release.

Input Data for the Cl2 RUPTURE Model

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Although the full set of data is large, you do not have to decide on and enter a value for every item of data in order to model a release; PHAST is supplied with default values for many of the items, and if you accept these default values, then you can define a release easily and quickly.

Input Data for Weather

In the Weather tab section, double-click on the icon for Weather 1, and the dialog will open as shown.

Input Data for the Weather 1 Weather Condition

The set of input data is much smaller than for a model, and the most important items are in the Weather Data tab section. All of the items in the Atmospheric Parameters tab section take their initial values from the defaults system, so you can either accept the default value, or enter your own.

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You can tell that the Atmospheric Parameters tab section takes all of its values from the default system without even moving to it, because PHAST uses italic lettering for the headings of all such tabs. When a tab has italic lettering, you know that there are no fields on that tab section that you have to complete before you can use the Weather (or Model, or Material) in a calculation; however, if the heading of a tab section uses bold letteringsuch as the Weather Data tab sectionthen this tells you that there are fields in the tab section that are initially blank, and that you must complete. This system of lettering can be useful when you want to obtain preliminary results quickly.

Input Data for Materials

In the Material tab section, double-click on the icon for CHLORINE. The set of input data for Chlorine is very large, and some of it is very specialized and technical. If you want to add a new material to the properties system in PHAST, you will have to gather and enter a lot of information before you can use the material in the calculations. However, since PHAST is supplied with full data for a large number of materials, it is unlikely that you will ever need to define a completely new material, and, indeed, you may use PHAST for years without ever making any changes to any materials data.

Input Data for Chlorine

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You are most likely to use the Materials tab section for defining a Mixturemade up of existing Pure materialsand for looking up property data. You can refer to the input dialog to obtain the values of constant properties (i.e. those that are not a function of conditions), and you can use the options in the Material cascade in the Run menu to calculate properties at a given pressure and temperature (e.g. vapour density, saturation conditions, etc.).

Input Data for Maps

When you double-click on the icon for Map of region around plant in the Maps tab section, a separate window will open showing you the location and geometry of your map file.

The Map Window

To actually view the map on your screen, you need to click on the globe in the Map toolbar:

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The map will then appear, as shown below:

The Map Window

When entering a map in your study you can use a map with header or geographical data. The Geographical Information System used in PHAST will then place your map automatically.

If you are not using a Georeferenced map or one with Header data you must enter
The insert raster image window

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the map in Interactive mode. PHAST will automatically enable the Georeference and Header data options if your map includes this information.

If you are using a flat map (without Georeferenced or Header data) the main information that you need is, the location of the origin on the map, and the scale for the map. You define these after placing the map on your screen, by right-clicking on the selected map. You will define a new map in the next chapter, which gives details of these operations.
Setting the scale and origin

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Running the Calculations

Direct Run of a Single Model, Folder or Study
To run a single Model, or to run all Models in a single Folder or Study, select that Model (or Folder or Study) in the Models tab section and then choose Run Model(s) from the right-click menu or Model(s) from the Run menu, or press Ctrl+M. The Run Model(s) command processes all of the calculations, from discharge through dispersion to flammable and toxic effects. If you want to run the discharge calculations alone, without proceeding to the dispersion and effects calculations, select the Run Discharge(s) command instead, or press Ctrl+D. When you are running a single item in this way, the program performs the calculations for the Weather conditions that are currently selected for the Batch Run.

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Viewing the Results

If the Study Folder contains Models that have been processed successfully through the calculationsshown by the use of blue text for the names of the Modelsthen you can view the results. To view the results, select the Model in the Models tab section, and then select Report or Graph from the View menu, or press Ctrl+R for the Report, or Ctrl+G for the Graph. A single Report or Graph can display the results for more than one Model, but the options for selecting the multiple Models are different for each, and described separately below.

Viewing the Reports

Reports are displayed in the Report Window, which appears in the free space inside the PHAST Windowi.e. in the space not occupied by the Study Tree and the Log Windowwhich is normally to the right of the Study Tree.

The Report Window

You can generate a Report that contains the results for more than one Model if the Models are in the same folder or Study. Select the folder or Study and then use the option to view the Report, and the program will generate a Report with the results for all of the relevant Models.

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The window will contain several Reports, depending on the Model and the type of results that are relevant to the Model. By default, the program will display all available reports, but you can use Preferences... in the Options menu to exclude Reports that are not of interest in the current analysis. The Reports and the options for displaying them are described in more detail in the next chapter. You use the tabs to move between the Reports. Some Reports are long, and cover many pages. You can move between the pages of a Report using the navigation buttons at the left of the Toolbar for the Report Window. You can also move to a particular part of the Report by using the Report Tree at the left of the window. When you expand the tree, it shows the structure of the Report, with the sections that cover the different Models (if the Report covers more than one Model), the sections that cover each Weather that was processed for the Model, and the sections that cover the different release segments for each Weather, shown as 1, 2, 3, etc. in the illustration.

The Expanded Report Tree

Most Models have a single release segment, but a Model may have more than one segment if you used time-varying discharge modelling (which is an option in the Vessel tab section of the input data), or if the release contains liquid that rains out to form a pool, and the pool then evaporates, since the evaporation is treated as a form of time-varying discharge. To move to a particular part of the Report, click on that part in the Tree (e.g. segment 4 for Weather 1 in the illustration), and the program will move to the page that contains the beginning of that part of the Report. The other main feature of the Report Window is the Export button in the Toolbar. Use the Export button to export the contents of the Report to an external file of a given format (e.g. Excel, HTML, text).
The Export Button

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If the initial size of the window is small, you may find it difficult to view the Reports clearly, and in this case you should choose Full Screen from the Window menu or from the Toolbar, since this option expands the window to fill the entire screen. To return from Full Screen to Normal mode, press Ctrl+W, the escape key, or click on the CloseToggle Full Screen button that is always visible when you are in Full Screen mode.
The Window Menu

The Restore Button

You can have more than one Report Window open at any time. Use the Window menu to switch between multiple Report Windows, or to arrange the windows so they are all visible at the same time.

Viewing the Graphs

When you select Graph from the View menu, the Plot Setup dialog will appear, prompting you to choose between the Weather conditions that have been modelled, and to choose a Map on which to superimpose the footprint results.

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Choosing the Results to Plot

The list of Weathers will include all of the Weathers that have been defined for each Study, and not just the Weathers that have been processed for the current Model. If you select a Weather that has not been processed, an error message will appear when you click on OK. You can also choose the option to view a Graph from the Weather tab section of the Study Tree. In this case, the Plot Setup dialog will contain a Model tab section instead of a Weather tab section, and you can select multiple Models to plot for the Weather that is currently selected in the Study Tree. When you have chosen the items that you want to plot, the Graph Window will open in the area to the right of the Study Tree. The Graph Window contains many Graphs, and you move between them using the tabs. The Graphs and the options for displaying them are described in more detail in the next chapter.

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The Graph Window

As with the Report Window, you can have more than one Graph Window open at a time, and you use the Window menu to arrange the Graph Windows, and to switch to Full Screen mode. If you choose a single Weather and Model, the graphs will show the results for different concentrations, distances and overpressures, as appropriate for the type of graph. If you choose more than one Weather or Model, the graphs will show the results for a single concentration, distance or overpressure for each Weather or Model.

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Saving the Example Study Folder

Although you have not made any changes to the input data for the Example Study Folder, you have run the calculations. If you save the results with the rest of the Study Folder data, then the next time you open the Example Study Folder, you will be able to view the results immediately, without having to rerun the calculations. You should leave the Example.PSU file from the Examples folder unchanged, so that other users will be able to explore it in its original state. This means that you should not use the Save option from the File menu, since this would overwrite the file in the Examples folder. Instead, you should use the Save As... option from the File menu, so that you can save the Study Folder to a different location, creating your own copy of it. When you install PHAST, the installation program creates a folder to be the preferred location for Study Folder data. The default name and location for this folder are c:\DNVuser (if PHAST is installed on the c: drive), but you can set any name and location during the installation. If you have access to this folder, you should use it for your copy of the Example Study Folder. Before clicking on Save, you should ensure that the Save results check box is ticked, as shown in the illustration on the previous page. By default, PHAST does not save results for the Example Study Folder or for any new Study Folder, and you must use Save As... if you want to change this option. The results can make the Study Folder files very large. Since the calculations usually run very quickly, you may prefer to save your Study Folder files without the results, and then rerun the calculations every time you open the files.

Saving the Example Study Folder

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