An Overset Adaptive High-Order Approach for Blade-Resolved Wind Energy Applications

An overset dual-mesh, dual-solver for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is presented for wind energy applications. The dual-mesh paradigm is implemented in a near-body/off-body mesh system utilizing an unstructured mesh for the near-body and a Cartesian mesh for the off-body. The dual-solver paradigm uses variable-order, mixed-discretization solvers optimized for the respective near-body/off-body grids. Preliminary results of a computational study of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Phase VI wind turbine are presented. Results for uniform axial inflow velocities (7, 10, and 15 m/s) compare computed and measured results, including total power and thrust, sectional pressure coefficient, and a down-stream wake deficit profile for a uniform axial inflow velocity of 10 m/s. Qualitative results are presented for a dynamically mesh adaptive off-body solver in the dual-mesh, dual-solver paradigm. Preliminary results using a statically refined mesh indicate the power and thrust curves are over predicted and the pressure coefficient results indicate good agreement for the pressure side of the rotor blade but over prediction the suction side.