Numerical Study of the Balance of Kinetic Energy Losses in the Flow Part of a Low-Flow Inflow Turbine

The paper focuses primarily on the development of marine power engineering and automation caused by qualitative and quantitative changes owing to a significant increase in the capacity of modern power plants. The object of the present study is the flow part of a low-flow inflow turbine, while the research subject is the kinetic energy loss in the stage of a low-flow inflow turbine. The research method used is based on a numerical experiment of gas flow employing computational fluid dynamics. The purpose of the study is to compare the kinetic energy loss coefficients in the impeller and rotor wheel, as well as turbine exit losses obtained during physical and numerical experiments. The main objective of the study is to compare the kinetic energy loss coefficients in the turbine stage obtained during a physical experiment with the results of numerical simulation. It is noted that low-flow turbines are characterized by small overall dimensions, which do not allow conducting a full physical experiment. The study provides a balance of energy losses of a low-flow inflow turbine. Good agreement is achieved between the loss coefficients obtained by the numerical experiment and the results of the physical experiment. Conclusions are drawn about the possibility of applying numerical experiments for identical types of turbine stages.