Help to use VSPAERO files

[Moumouni GO]

Hello,

We are currently working on the stability and flight dynamics analysis of a fixed-wing UAV using aerodynamic data generated by VSPAERO (OpenVSP).

We have already obtained the basic longitudinal aerodynamic coefficients by varying the angle of attack, but we would like to go further and build a complete 6DOF dynamic model of the aircraft.

For this purpose, we need the following categories of aerodynamic derivatives:

* Basic longitudinal aerodynamic coefficients (obtained by varying the angle of attack);

* Lateral-directional aerodynamic coefficients (obtained by varying the sideslip angle, β);

* Dynamic derivatives associated with roll, pitch, and yaw rates (p, q, r);

* Control derivatives associated with ailerons, elevator, and rudder deflections.

From what we understand, VSPAERO output files appear to contain all these quantities. However, we are struggling to find documentation or references explaining how to interpret and exploit these results.

Our questions are:

1. Which VSPAERO output files contain the stability and control derivatives?

2. Is there any detailed documentation describing the meaning and usage of the aerodynamic coefficients reported in the output files?

3. How can we identify the lateral-directional derivatives such as (C_{Y_\beta}), (C_{l_\beta}), and (C_{n_\beta})?

4. How can the dynamic derivatives such as (C_{m_q}), (C_{l_p}), and (C_{n_r}) be extracted from VSPAERO results?

5. How can the control derivatives such as (C_{l_{\delta_a}}), (C_{m_{\delta_e}}), and (C_{n_{\delta_r}}) be obtained?

6. Are the coefficients provided by VSPAERO directly usable for constructing the longitudinal and lateral state-space models required for dynamic stability analysis?

7. Are there any papers, technical reports, theses, tutorials, or example workflows showing how to go from VSPAERO output files to a complete static and dynamic stability analysis?

At the moment, our main challenge is not generating the aerodynamic results themselves, but understanding how to interpret and use them correctly.

If anyone has experience using VSPAERO for aircraft stability and flight dynamics studies, any guidance, references, or example workflows would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help.