Improvements in the Helios Rotorcraft Simulation Code

An overview of capabilities recently introduced or in development in the HPCMP CREATE™-AV Helios high-fidelity rotorcraft simulation code is presented. These include an implicit off-body Cartesian solver to support Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) or Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) in the wake; a body hierarchy formulation to support generalized body motion, coupled wing/rotor aeroelastics and maneuvering flight; a strand-grid based near-body solver intended to support enhanced automation and efficiency; the inclusion of two validated unstructured near-body solvers - NASA's FUN3D and CREATE-AV Kestrel's kCFD; runtime in situ visualization improvements with unsteady particle tracing with restart; and new pre- and post-processing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for ease of use. Future advanced capabilities for Helios are cited. Example application of these new capabilities are presented.