*4.3. Sediment Erosion Prediction*

The sediment erosion patterns in critical turbine components are presented in Figure 12. As seen in Figure 12a, runner blades presented a higher erosion rate on the suction side near the trailing edge. In a similar manner, the guide vanes presented higher sediment erosion on the trailing edge of the suction side, as evidenced in Figure 12b. Comparing the flow field from Figure 10 with the eroded zones in Figure 12, it is evident that zones with the highest relative flow velocity experienced higher erosion rates, as expected.
