Transitional DDES computations of the NREL Phase-VI rotor in axial flow conditions

In the present article we describe CFD simulations of the well known NREL Phase-VI rotor in axial flow conditions using a newly developed technique of combining turbulence modeling by the Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) technique with laminar/turbulent transition modeling by a correlation based method. We demonstrate how the power production around the onset of stall is very dependent on the turbulence intensity in the inflow. Additionally, we compare with measurements and illustrate how the unsteady loads from the DDES simulations can provide valuable insight in the transient behavior of the rotor loads.