Table of contents

1. Introduction

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of this document

This document provides a technical overview of PHOENIX RapidFire 4.1 (often abbreviated to 'PHOENIX' in this document) for the benefit of:

• New users;

• Land and fire managers;

• Software technicians; and

• Others who wish to gain a greater understanding of the uses and components of PHOENIX.

This document provides the information necessary to allow PHOENIX to be compared to other similar systems. It contains technical detail and references technical detail contained in other documents where appropriate. It is part of a series of key documents about PHOENIX including:

Be aware that in addition to the above, various government agencies have produced guidelines for PHOENIX that are specific to support their individual operating environments. Also, there are various technical papers that have been prepared by the University of Melbourne and the Bushfire CRC that this document draws upon, and which are referred to throughout.

1.2 Navigating this document

This document starts by introducing the PHOENIX RapidFire fire simulation software, what it is, why it was developed and how it works (Chapter 1). It goes on to discuss the development of and development philosophy behind PHOENIX (Chapter 2) and then describes in detail:

• How data is collected, represented and stored in PHOENIX using the 'Fire Grid' (Chapter 3);

• The inputs that are required or that are beneficial to support PHOENIX (Chapter 4);

• How each component model of PHOENIX works (Chapter 5: Fire Behaviour, 6: Fire Perimeter Propagation and 7: Assets); and

• The outputs that the user can generate from PHOENIX (Chapter 8).

Appendix 1 lists the various versions of PHOENIX and what each version added to software functionality.

Appendix 2 lists the actual files read by PHOENIX and their relationship to the inputs discussed in this document.

Appendix 3 provides a discussion on the simulation process, from ignition, through to build-up, spotting and fire spread.