Numerical-performance studies for the stabilized space-time computation of wind-turbine rotor aerodynamics

We present our numerical-performance studies for 3D wind-turbine rotor aerodynamics computation with the deforming-spatial-domain/stabilized space-time (DSD/SST) formulation. The computation is challenging because of the large Reynolds numbers and rotating turbulent flows, and computing the correct torque requires an accurate and meticulous numerical approach. As the test case, we use the NREL 5MW offshore baseline wind-turbine rotor. We compute the problem with both the original version of the DSD/SST formulation and the version with an advanced turbulence model. The DSD/SST formulation with the turbulence model is a recently-introduced space-time version of the residual-based variational multiscale method. We include in our comparison as reference solution the results obtained with the residual-based variational multiscale Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method using NURBS for spatial discretization. We test different levels of mesh refinement and different definitions for the stabilization parameter embedded in the least squares on incompressibility constraint stabilization. We compare the torque values obtained.