Abstract: Micro-head river hydropower resource in China is abundant and accessible, playing a vital role in optimizing energy structures and reducing environmental impacts.However, micro-head water turbines face challenges such as low energy density, limited single-unit capacity, and suboptimal layout design.This study investigated a micro-head water turbine system equipped with flow deflectors.Through numerical simulations, we analyzed the hydraulic performance of turbine arrays under three configurations (series, parallel, and staggered arrangements) with varying spacing schemes to improve resource utilization efficiency.The key findings were as follows: series arrangements exhibited suboptimal hydraulic performance, parallel configurations showed performance improvements at optimal spacing, staggered layouts (standard/inverted trapezoids) had minimal effects on flow characteristics in 2-row, 5-turbine systems.For multi-unit staggered deployment, an optimal spacing was identified: a horizontal spacing of 2.5 times the deflector inlet diameter and a vertical spacing of 3 times the deflector length.This configuration maximizes energy harvesting efficiency while maintaining compactness for effective river flow energy extraction.The results provide critical design guidelines for micro-head hydropower development.