This release comes with three highly anticipated new features:  VSPAERO 6.0.0, the Generic XSec Editor, and Doxygen-generated API documentation. Dozens of smaller improvements and fixes are included as well, so upgrading is highly recommended. A significant portion of this effort can be attributed to ESAero, funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The latest VSPAERO jumps an entire major version, offering countless improvements and fixes over 4.4.1. Significant effort was taken to ensure cross-platform support, accuracy, and robustness. We encourage anyone currently using VSPAERO to rerun models in 6.0.0 and report if any issues are found. While the changes to the VSPAERO GUI are minimal, users are free to use the command line interface to access all of the new advanced capabilities. The most significant is the ability to handle multiple unsteady rotating bodies. In time, GUI support will catch up to the latest capabilities.

The Generic XSec Editor allows for modeling of any arbitrary 2D cross-section shape. For more details, see the wiki page available here.

The API documentation, automatically generated through Doxygen, has been posted to the OpenVSP home page. Users that compile OpenVSP themselves can generate the documentation offline by building the “doc” solution (requires the Doxygen executable).

Last, this release comes with a Debian package for Ubuntu (thanks Cibin Joseph), along with Windows 64-bit binaries for users with models approaching maximum memory limits. As always please report any problems with the new features in this release.

Features:

• VSPAERO 6.0.0
  • Fully unsteady, time accurate analysis
  • PSU-WOPWOP coupling for noise predictions
  • Significant speed improvements
  • Support of rotors in hover through Vref
  • Improved vortex core model
  • Local Prandtl Glauert correction
  • Improvements to Karman-Tsien model
  • Remove broken vortex lift & LE suction
  • Better force and moment calculations
  • More viewing options for wakes
  • Lots of bug fixes
• Generic XSec Editor
• Automated API documentation
• Propeller blade curve editor GUI improvements
• API functions for VSPAERO control surface grouping
• Set transformation API functions
• MeshGeom color specification
• Lots of code analysis recommended cleanup and improvements

Bug Fixes:

• VSPAERO V&V script fixes
• Fix 0 chord length airfoil modifier crash
• Pinoccio build fixes
• Update MeshGeoms from MeshGeom GUI
• Fix crash caused by empty control surface groups
• Adds missing VSPAERO analysis inputs (i.e. Rho)

Other:

• Debian package for Ubuntu
• 64-bit Windows binaries
• Migration of STEPCode to Libraries
• Update cpptest to 2.0.0