Computational fluid dynamics simulations of small capacity Kaplan turbines

In the presented paper authors focused on numerical analysis of the flow through selected constructions of Kaplan and semi-Kaplan machines. The paper contains three computation examples; each of them concentrates on different aspects of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) utilization. The numerical tests of various turbulent models for Kaplan turbine CFD applications, numerical determination of the cam curve characteristic and numerical analysis of operating parameters of the semi-Kaplan machine have been presented. The methodology of the implemented numerical computations and final results of calculations have been discussed in each of the presented study cases.