Evaluation of Helios CFD Toolset for Faired Rotor-Hub Drag Prediction

An evaluation of the first release of the computational toolset Helios as applied to rotor-hub drag was performed. Helios is a multi-disciplinary set of tools being developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for rotorcraft analysis and design. The software was assessed for both accuracy and ease-of-use for a faired helicopter rotor-hub drag problem. Analysis of a faired rotor-hub was chosen so that results could be compared to both previous computational solutions and wind-tunnel data. It was found in general that the Helios software compared favorably to previous numerical and experimental data, and that the software could be used by an average CFD practitioner with a basic level of training. Several recommendations, documented in this paper, for enhancement of the toolset were identified and communicated to the Helios development team during this evaluation.