CFD of a helicopter rotor, solidworks? Ansys?
 

Hey guys, this is my first post. I'm rather new to the world of CFD, but I'm trying to learn. I'm trying to model a spinning helicopter rotor (two blades, each of them their own airfoil)

I'm interested in testing various rotor (airfoil) tips, to see how they effect drag/vortex formation

Currently, I've been modeling the rotor in solidworks, and using solidworks 2010 flow simulation to test the airfoil as if it were a wing. I realize that this does not properly model the rotorfoil as if it were a spinning helicopter blade, but it does give me some rough ideas about the aerodynamics of the foil as well as the foiltip/wingtip.

I don't know how to set it up in solidworks as a rotor which is spinning in air, any tips here? It's my understanding that solidworks can't do motion animation, but it can do some motion simulation, am I correct there?

Also, I have never used ansys 12.1 but I have access to it. Could anyone point me to a tutorial on how to do cfd for a helicopter rotor in ansys? its my underrstanding that in theory, ansys could model the rotor while spinning, taking into account all the forces the rotor would experience as if the helicopter were hovering. I'd also be interested to see what happened when you add forward/backward flight, and climb/descents.

I realize this is an extremely broad question, but I'm just getting started here, and I really appreciate any pointers/tips/information you guys could provide. Thanks!