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.
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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 installation routine also places a PHAST icon on the desktop so you can also start
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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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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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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.
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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.
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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Most dialogs also have a Whats This Help button in the form of a question mark at the right of the 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.
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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.
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.
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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.).
To actually view the map on your screen, you need to click on the globe in the Map toolbar:
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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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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.
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
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.
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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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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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