Torque sign convention in VSPAero

[Adrian Fistoli]

Dear community,

I am wondering what is the sign convention for torque ("Moment") in the rotor file VSPAero outputs.

I understand the RPM sign in that file comes from the definition of Rvec and the signed Omega... and I understand Power is the product of the previous two.
But what is the convention for torque?  How do I know its sense?

Thanks in advance!

[Rob McDonald]

I recommend you conduct some simple experiments to test this out and convince yourself of the sign convention.

Set up a default prop, run it at default conditions, observe.  Then, flip the direction of the prop.  See how it does.  Then, change the advance ratio / speed to drive it from propeller to brake and then to windmill states.  Run those cases with both directions.

Rob