Difficulty getting prop model to work

[danie...@gmail.com]

Brandon and Rob,

(and anyone else who can help)

I'm working on running and understanding OpenVSP's propeller capabilities and am having some trouble running simple cases.  It is likely I'm missing a simple step but after much googling there doesn't seem to be an answer to my problem.

Previously I loaded prop models from the OpenVSP hangar and attempted to run the "unsteady rotating blade" case and every time I attempt this, it reverts to running the blades as wings and will not activate the "unsteady" option.  

The simplest steps I took are:

1. Download the latest version of OpenVSP,  3.46.0 64-bit Python 3.11, I have tried 3.9 as well, no luck

2. Load default prop model and set "propeller representation" to unsteady rotating blades

3. Set Mach number to 0.2 to give an incoming velocity

I'm not aiming for accuracy just yet, just trying to get the model to work. The existing cases seem to be independent of either panel methods or VLM.  I've stuck with VLM to keep matters simple, with the thin set to shown and the thick set to none.

The default propeller also keeps displaying the message "Note... mesh may not be closed!".  I was under the impression that if the mesh isn't truly closed it won't run a static case either.  Is there a way to check if a mesh is closed? 

Is there a step I'm missing to get the unsteady propeller mode to activate?  

Thank you for your help!

[Rob McDonald]

You can't do propeller analysis with the 'Shown' Set.  You must put the Prop into another Set and then use that Set for the analysis.

You'll also want to increase the number of wake points.

Rob