Guha 2010

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Part A: http://pia.sagepub.com/

Journal of Power and Energy
Experiment and analysis for an improved design of the inlet and nozzle in Tesla disc turbines
A Guha and B Smiley
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 2010 224: 261
DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE818
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261
Experiment and analysis for an improved design

of the inlet and nozzle in Tesla disc turbines
A Guha∗,‡ and B Smiley
Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
The manuscript was received on 19 May 2009 and was accepted after revision for publication on 4 September 2009.
DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE818
Abstract: In this article, the performance of the inlet to a Tesla disc turbine has been studied.
The losses in the inlet and nozzle are known to be a major reason why the overall efficiency of
disc turbines is not high. A new nozzle utilizing a plenum chamber inlet has been designed
and tested here. Experiments have demonstrated less than 1 per cent loss in total pressure
in the new design compared to losses in the range 13–34 per cent for the original nozzle and
inlet. Other than the dramatic improvement in loss reduction, the new plenum-integrated nozzle
achieves a considerable enhancement in the uniformity of the jet. This has been demonstrated
here both by experimental traverses of Pitot tubes as well as computational fluid dynamics
studies. The greater uniformity of the jet means that a single Pitot measurement approxi-
mately positioned at the centre of the jet would record a value close to the true centre-line
total pressure, and that calculations based on centre-line values of total pressure would give,
to a good accuracy, the average loss coefficient of the nozzle–inlet assembly. The uniformity of
the jet also means that all disc passages would receive uniform inlet conditions; this should
improve the performance of the rotor thereby further enhancing the overall efficiency of the Tesla
turbine.
Keywords: Tesla turbine, efficiency, power, nozzle, rotor, jet, pitot traverse, computational fluid
dynamics
1 INTRODUCTION impact on the overall performance of Tesla disc tur-

bines. In reference [2], Rice writes: ‘In general, it has
In this article, we report design improvements to a been found that the efficiency of rotor can be very high,
Tesla disc turbine and an experimental and theoret- at least equal to that achieved by conventional rotors.
ical investigation into its operating characteristics. It But it has proved very difficult to achieve efficient noz-
has previously been recognized [1–3] that the perfor- zles in the case of turbines. […] As a result, only modest
mance of the nozzle and the inlet is a limiting factor machine efficiencies have been demonstrated.’ This
for the overall efficiency of such turbines. The detailed article therefore addresses and solves a major issue
flow features of an existing nozzle–inlet assembly in the design of Tesla disc turbines that seems to
are analysed here and the sources of major losses have seriously affected their development for over
are identified. This then led to an improved design. 50 years.
Experimental and computational results show that the
performance of the new nozzle–inlet assembly is sig-
nificantly improved. This would have a substantial 1.1 Operating principle
The Tesla disc turbine is a bladeless turbine invented
by Nikola Tesla in 1913 [4, 5]. Fluid is injected through a
∗ Corresponding author: Aerospace Engineering Department, nozzle nearly tangentially onto an array of co-axial flat
University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK. discs. As the fluid moves through the gaps between the
email: A.Guha@bristol.ac.uk; guha.a@rediffmail.com discs shear stresses arise due to the difference in tan-
‡ Now at: Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of
gential velocities of the discs and the fluid. The shear
Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India. stresses acting over the surface area of the discs give
JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

262 A Guha and B Smiley
rise to a torque and allow work transfer from the fluid substantially over its current values for its use in place
to the rotor. The fluid exits the rotor through holes in of the conventional turbines even in niche application
the discs near the shaft with a throughflow velocity in areas.
the axial direction.
1.3 Difference between experimental and

theoretical efficiency
1.2 Perspectives of development in Tesla turbines
It can be seen that there is a large difference between
The disc turbine showed early promise. Initially Tesla,
the theoretical maximum efficiency of the disc turbine
with the help of Allis Chalmers Company built a
and the efficiencies demonstrated experimentally. In
turbine with a power output of 500 kW [6]. After test-
his paper of 2003 [2], Rice states that there is little to
ing, the discs were inspected and found to have been
no literature devoted to the flows that cause the main
stretched by radial stresses resulting from the high
losses in the Tesla turbine.
angular velocity of the turbine. It is likely that the
Investigators have focused their attention on the
stretching was due to the choice of steel used which
disc rotor and little attention has been paid to other
had a low yield point [6]. This setback and lack of funds
key components in the turbine such as the nozzle and
caused Allis Chalmers Company to stop development
the exhaust. As a result, no attempt has been made to
of the Tesla turbine and focus instead on the Curtis
measure losses in these components individually and
and Parsons type of Impulse and Impulse-Reaction
apparently no research has gone into improving their
machines [6]. From the 1950s onwards there was a
design.
resurgence of interest in the Tesla turbine and a num-
The discrepancy between theoretical and experi-
ber of disc turbines were built and tested [1, 3, 7–9].
mentally demonstrated efficiencies could also be due
In these experimental investigations, the efficiencies
to the difficulty faced by investigators when trying
demonstrated by the Tesla turbine have been in the
to optimize the turbine. There are many parameters
range 14.6–35.5 per cent [10], which is low compared
which can be changed and there is extensive cross-
to modern day gas turbines which has an efficiency of
coupling between them. After the success of Whittle
around 90 per cent [11].
and von Ohain, the gas turbine became the centre
Even though the efficiency of the Tesla turbine is low
point of research and development, and the under-
compared to conventional turbomachinery it may find
standing of its performance and optimization has
application in special areas where it has an advantage
reached quite a mature stage [11, 19–23]. The under-
over bladed turbines. The first advantage is the sim-
standing of the performance of Tesla turbines is not
plicity of design and manufacture. It is also relatively
nearly as thorough. This has resulted in lower than
inexpensive. The turbine could be useful in situations
optimum efficiencies.
where very viscous or non-Newtonian working flu-
ids are used, or with non-conventional fuels such as
biomass. It is believed that Tesla turbines can cope
1.4 The scope of the present study
better with particle-laden two-phase flows because of
the self-cleaning nature of the discs (references [12] to In this study, a detailed investigation into the inlet
[16] describe the general aspects of two-phase flows). and nozzle of the Tesla turbine is conducted. Rice [2]
Other than the nozzle–inlet assembly, losses occur states that the efficiency of the disc rotor can be very
in the disc rotor itself. Analytical investigations have high, at least equal to that achieved by conventional
been published with the aim of predicting the max- rotors, but that it has proved very difficult to achieve
imum isentropic efficiency of the disc rotor. A study efficient nozzles in the case of Tesla turbines. Rice [2]
conducted by Lawn and Rice [17] concluded that goes on to say that there are inherent losses as the fluid
the maximum theoretical efficiency of the disc rotor enters the rotor because the nozzles in Tesla turbines
was 81 per cent. This agrees with the findings of are necessarily long and inefficient.
Allen [18], who predicted possible efficiencies exceed- In an earlier phase of this project a Tesla turbine
ing 80 per cent. More recently, a paper by Rice [2] was designed, built, and tested [3]. A thorough anal-
predicts that the maximum efficiency of the rotor ysis of the turbine is presented in reference [3]. The
could exceed 95 per cent. The new design described in inlet and nozzle of this turbine were designed on
this article paves the way for the efficiency of the rotor the basis of knowledge reported in the existing lit-
to be determined experimentally for the first time. erature and therefore suffer from similar limitations.
The Tesla turbine, to date, has not been used com- The inlet was assembled from off-the-shelf pneu-
mercially. This is mainly due to the low turbine effi- matic parts and was long and complex. However, the
ciencies demonstrated. Since the gas turbine cycle has inlet incorporated an innovation in that it allowed
a poor work ratio (thereby the component efficien- nozzles with different geometries to be interchanged
cies having a strong impact on the cycle efficiency), without any modification of the turbine casing being
the efficiency of the Tesla turbine has to be improved necessary.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

Experiment and analysis for an improved design of the inlet and nozzle in Tesla disc turbines 263
The maximum efficiency of this turbine was approx- outlet of the fluid, the shaft is supported as a cantilever
imately 25 per cent [3], which is similar to the effi- by means of bearings inside the base-plate (Fig. 1(d)).
ciencies found in the literature. A detailed study into
the performance of the inlet presented in this article, 2.1.2 Description of nozzle
which incorporates experimental and computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, showed that the noz- The overall design of the turbine is very flexible allow-
zle and inlet were responsible for losses in stagnation ing parameters to be varied in order that their effect
pressure up to 35 per cent. This confirms that Rice [2] on the performance of the turbine can be measured.
was correct to suggest that the nozzle and inlet were It is possible to change the number of discs, disc spac-
critical components in the Tesla turbine. ing, and geometry of the nozzle without changing the
A new inlet was therefore designed, manufactured base-plate or housing. The geometry of the nozzle can
and tested. The findings are reported in this article. be changed using an interchangeable nozzle insert. As
The new design retained the flexibility of the test rig a design compromise it was necessary that the nozzle
described in reference [3], but allowed losses in stag- incorporated a 90◦ bend just before the exit plane. The
nation pressure due to the nozzle and inlet to be nozzle insert can be seen in its position in Fig. 1(c).
reduced to below 1 per cent. This could be significant The nozzle outlet area is rectangular. In this article, the
for achieving commercial viability of the Tesla turbine. major dimension of the nozzle outlet is called height
Section 2 outlines methods for calculation of the and the minor dimension is called width. The height
performance of the turbine nozzle and inlet, and of the slot-shaped nozzle can be adapted to the vari-
applies them to existing designs to assess and identify able axial extent of the rotor (which depends on the
problem areas. Section 3 then describes the ratio- number of discs used) by using inserts with the shape
nale for the design of a new nozzle and new inlet of the nozzle channel, this is so that the unused area of
based on the knowledge gleaned from the calcula- the nozzle can be blocked and the jet can be directed
tions of section 2. Section 4 describes the experimental more efficiently to the rotor avoiding major leakages.
set-up used for the present study, and compares the (However, it is suspected that the inserts may not have
experimental results for the performance of the new blocked the intended area completely, allowing a small
designs with that for the existing designs of the tur- amount of leakage.)
bine nozzle and inlet. Appendix 2 describes a CFD
analysis of various nozzle–inlet assemblies. Appendix 2.1.3 Description of inlet
3 presents analytical formulation for designing and
analysing plenum chambers, together with the numer- The inlet and nozzle for the turbine are shown in
ical scheme to solve the equations. Figs 1(b) and (c) respectively. The working fluid is
delivered by 8 mm hosing to a series of off-the-shelf
pneumatic fittings. First, there is a push-on-hose fit-
2 METHOD OF ANALYSIS FOR TURBINE ting which attaches via an adapter to an elbow which
NOZZLE AND INLET channels the flow into the base-plate. The elbow con-
tains a static pressure tapping and a total pressure
2.1 Description of turbine inlet and nozzle probe. The duct drilled into the base-plate aligns with
the hole in the nozzle insert allowing the fluid to
In this section, the turbine that was built in an earlier enter the nozzle. The seal between the two sections
phase of this project [3] is described with particular is maintained by an O-ring.
attention paid to the nozzle and inlet. Methods are pre-
sented which allow total pressure losses in an arbitrary 2.1.4 Definition of nozzle and inlet
turbine inlet to be determined. Using these meth-
ods an estimate for the loss coefficient in the current For the purposes of this article, the turbine inlet is
turbine inlet and nozzle is calculated. defined as the section of duct from the start of the
elbow fitting until the beginning of the nozzle insert.
The nozzle is defined as the fluid path starting from the
2.1.1 Description of turbine 6 mm entrance to the nozzle insert up until the point
The main features of the turbine were designed at which the fluid exits the nozzle.
according to experience noted in references [2], [5],
[6], [8], and [9]. The disc diameter is 92 mm (3.6 in),
2.2 Analytical tools for predicting stagnation
the thickness of each disc is 0.9 mm, and the rotor-
pressure drop along ducts
to-housing diametrical clearance is 0.3 mm. An overall
view of the turbine can be seen in Fig. 1. The discs have Empirical methods for predicting total pressure losses
a single central outlet port, since this configuration caused by the nozzle and inlet were used to estimate
was found to be more efficient by Davydov and Sher- the potential magnitude of losses in the inlet and
styuk [9] and Rice [2]. In order to accommodate the provide physical insight. It is suggested in Crane [24]

Fig. 1 (a) Overall view of the test rig and turbine. Keys: (1) pressure regulator, (2) air cylin-
der, (3) supply line, (4) turbine housing, (5) base-plate, (6) spindle, and (7) data logger.
(b) Detailed view of turbine inlet. Keys: (1) supply line, (2) base-plate, (3) pneumatic fittings,
(4) static pressure tapping, (5) superimposed image of internal diameter changes of inlet,
(6) elbow fitting, and (7) Pitot probe. (c) Detailed view of turbine housing. Keys: (1) nozzle
insert, (2) entrance to nozzle, (3) nozzle exit, (4) exhaust hole, (5) static pressure tappings
(one of the nine labelled), (6) turbine housing, and (7) potential fluid leak path. (d) Detailed
view of turbine rotor. Keys: (1) base-plate, (2) interface between the inlet and the entrance
to the nozzle insert, (3) bolts holding the discs (one of the three labelled), (4) locating pins
(one of the three labelled), (5) discs, and (6) bolt holes connecting base-plate to housing
(one of five labelled)
that losses in ducts are caused by four main mecha- drop can be expressed using Darcy’s equation [24, 25]
nisms.
1
pf = kf ρu2 (1)
2
1. Friction against the walls of the duct.
l
2. Viscous eddies caused by abrupt or gradual changes kf = F (2)
in duct cross-sectional area. d
3. Pressure gradients and secondary flows caused by 2.2.2 Changes in duct cross-sectional area
changes in the duct direction.
4. Faulty seals leading to leakage of fluid to the When an abrupt enlargement in duct cross section
atmosphere. occurs, the flow cannot follow the contour of the
duct causing separation. Turbulent eddies form in the
Methods for predicting losses caused by these mech- region of separation causing energy to be dissipated
anisms are examined in turn. in the form of heat. An expression for the pressure
loss coefficient can be found analytically by com-
bining the continuity, steady flow momentum and
2.2.1 Friction against the walls incompressible energy equations [25]
1
In any duct system, mechanical energy is lost through pe = ke ρui2 (3)
2
viscous interaction between the fluid and the walls.
The relationship between wall friction and pressure ke = (1 − β 2 )2 (4)

In equation (3), the velocity in the duct immediately Table 1 Calculated loss coefficients for inlet and nozzle
before the abrupt enlargement is used. Loss
When fluid flows through an abrupt contraction a Loss mechanism coefficient
vena contracta is formed in the pipe directly down-
Friction against wall 0.27
stream of the contraction. A region of separated flow Changes in inlet duct diameter in three places 0.86
is formed between the vena contracta and the wall, (all referred to the velocity in the 6 mm
and most of the loss of total pressure takes place in diameter section)
90◦ bend in the elbow 1.65
the downstream expansion of the flow cross-sectional 90◦ bend in the nozzle 0.94
area from the vena contracta to that of the duct [25].
The pressure loss can be calculated from equation (5)
1 2.3 Relative magnitude of different loss
pc = kc ρuo2 (5) mechanisms in the inlet
2
kc = −0.33β −2 − 0.18β −1 + 0.5 (6) Using the empirical methods presented in section 2.2
the pressure loss coefficients for the inlet duct and
In equation (5), the velocity in the duct immediately nozzle are estimated. Table 1 shows the calculated
after the abrupt contraction is used. In equation (6), loss coefficients of the various sections and flow fea-
we have fitted a quadratic polynomial to the empirical tures in the inlet and nozzle. The above formulae
data for kc given in reference [25]. are valid only for incompressible flow. For a nozzle
exit area of 1.5 × 6.3 mm, a simple one-dimensional
2.2.3 Changes in the flow direction (1D) isentropic analysis estimates the Mach number
When fluid flows along a curved path a radial pressure in the inlet duct to be within the incompressibility
gradient forms to provide the necessary centripetal limit. However, as the nozzle exit area is increased,
acceleration. This results in an increase in pressure the Mach number in the duct increases and the flow
towards the outside of the bend and a decrease in pres- would need to be treated as compressible. There are
sure along the inside of the bend. A pressure maximum also unknown quantities of leakage, which increases
occurs at the midpoint of the bend on the outer side with increasing pressure in the system. (Direct mea-
and a pressure minimum occurs on the inner side of surement of the mass flowrate at the inlet and the
the bend adjacent to this. This state necessitates the exit of the turbine can determine the overall leakage,
existence of two adverse pressure gradients – one on but such instrumentation was not available for the
the outer side of the bend before the midpoint and one present investigation.) Thus, it is difficult to estimate
on the inside of the bend after the midpoint. If the cur- the exact loss empirically. The empirical analysis, how-
vature of the bend is sufficiently severe these adverse ever, brings out the relative magnitudes of losses and
pressure gradients can cause flow separation with the the qualitative physics well. It also shows that a sig-
associated total pressure losses. nificant amount of loss can be incurred in a relatively
The pressure gradients in the bends also cause sec- short inlet that is designed not keeping the loss mech-
ondary flows in the form of counter-rotating eddies anisms in perspective. At any rate, the actual overall
whose effect is superimposed onto the primary flow loss has been measured experimentally in this work.
field. The effect of these eddies can persist downstream
for up to 75 times the pipe diameter [25]. Crawford
2.4 Performance of the nozzle
et al. [26] present a method to estimate the total pres-
sure losses caused by a bend if the bend radius, pipe 2.4.1 Background
diameter, Reynolds number, and surface friction factor
are known. The purpose of a nozzle is to convert energy stored
in the form of pressure into directed kinetic energy.
2.2.4 Faulty seals leading to leakage of fluid to For subsonic flow, this is achieved by reducing the
the atmosphere duct area in the direction of the flow [27]. This
induces a favourable pressure gradient causing the
The static pressure inside the inlet duct is higher than fluid to be accelerated through the nozzle. Separa-
atmospheric pressure. This means that if the duct is tion is not expected because of the presence of the
not properly sealed fluid will leak to the atmosphere. favourable pressure gradient; as a result, the efficiency
Any fluid which escapes to the atmosphere bypasses of nozzles is usually very high often exceeding 96 per
the nozzle and performs no useful work. Two major cent [28, 29].
potential leak paths exist in the turbine. First, fluid For small-sized nozzles with throat widths of less
could leak at the interface of the nozzle insert and than 3 mm, the boundary layer can occupy a signif-
the turbine housing (as shown in Fig. 1(c)); second, icant portion of the nozzle area [30]. Flows in these
a part of the jet may not enter between the discs, thus nozzles are characterized by small Reynolds numbers
bypassing the rotor. (Re < 105 ) and are laminar [30]. The relative thickness

of the boundary layer can result in reduced nozzle out using a Navier–Stokes code with turbulence mod-
performance because of increased viscous losses [31]. elling (k−ε) in FLUENT [33]. Geometry and Cartesian
In nozzles of this kind it is found that total pressure meshes were generated using Gambit [34].
losses decrease as the Reynolds number of the flow The cross section of the inlet portion of the nozzle is
increases [30], since the thickness of the boundary circular but the nozzle exit cross section is rectangu-
layer decreases with increasing Reynolds number. lar. This meant that it was not possible to create a 2D
model by taking a 2D slice of the nozzle. It was nec-
2.4.2 Ratio of total pressures essary to create a 2D model of the nozzle insert that
maintained the most important characteristics of the
The total pressure remains constant in isentropic flow real flow. The two most important parameters which
in the absence of work transfer. For a real adiabatic needed to be modelled were the geometry (i.e. the 90◦
flow without work transfer losses due to friction mani- bend, and the reduction in cross-sectional area caused
fest themselves as a drop in total pressure. Benedict by the nozzle). The ratio of nozzle inlet to exit area was
et al. [32] states that the ratio of total pressures is a sig- represented in the 2D model as the ratio of nozzle inlet
nificant but little discussed parameter which gives a to exit width. As far as possible the rest of the 2D geom-
clear thermodynamic indication of the loss in terms of etry was based on the dimensions of the real nozzle
entropy. When studying nozzle performance the use of insert.
this parameter is convenient when an accurate mea- Three cases were studied to replicate the conditions
surement of stagnation temperature is not possible. found in different Tesla turbine nozzles and these are
summarized in Table 2:
p̄0o
nozzle = (7)
p̄0i Case (a): 1.5 × 6.3 mm plenum-integrated nozzle. The
fluid from a stationary state inside an infinite reservoir
nozzle is calculated here by dividing the outlet gauge
exits through the nozzle. It would be expected that the
total pressure by the inlet gauge total pressure. Gauge
flow in the jet would be very uniform with little loss in
total pressure is used because it represents the energy
total pressure. This case was used as a benchmark to
available to do useful work (i.e. although fluid with an
compare the other cases against.
absolute pressure of 1 bar has energy in the form of
pressure, this energy cannot be usefully extracted).
Case (b): 1.5 × 6.3 mm original nozzle. This case repre-
sents a nozzle that has an inlet to exit area ratio of 3.0.
2.4.3 Effects of 90◦ bend combined with a change
A nozzle of this type was used in most tests reported
in flow cross-sectional area
by Hoya and Guha [3] as it allowed a rotor containing
The loss in total pressure is not the only relevant six discs to be tested. This case should demonstrate
parameter in assessing the performance of the noz- the effect of the pressure gradients caused by a 90◦
zle, but we argue that there are also other important bend coinciding with the favourable pressure gradient
features such as the flow uniformity over the nozzle caused by an area contraction.
outlet area that characterize the overall performance
of the nozzle. Case (c): 2.0 × 20 mm original nozzle. This case shows
As stated in section 2.1.2, the exit plane of the noz- the effect of using a nozzle where the exit area is larger
zle is at 90◦ to the plane of the inlet. It is known that than the inlet area – this kind of nozzle was used when
a 90◦ bend in a duct will distort the velocity profile in testing the rotor with a large number of discs. In this
the jet causing higher velocity flow around the outside case, the favourable pressure gradient associated with
of the bend and low velocity flow on the inside [28]. the nozzle is removed.
This is not desirable for the nozzle in a disc turbine
because it would cause some discs to see a higher mass Details of the CFD investigation and results for the
flowrate than others. However, although there is liter- above cases are given in Appendix 2.
ature describing the flow characteristics of a pipe of
constant cross-section undergoing a 90◦ bend, it is not
known how the presence of a contraction (the nozzle
Table 2 Summary of CFD tests runs on flow field in the
in the present case) and resulting favourable pressure
nozzle
gradient directly after the 90◦ bend would affect the
flow field. Width Length Inlet area Exit area
Case Flow type (mm) (mm) (mm2 ) (mm2 )
2.4.4 Computational investigation of nozzle exit (a) Reservoir 1.5 6.3 Infinite 9.45
flow uniformity (b) Duct flow with 90◦ 1.5 6.3 28.3 9.45
bend
It was therefore decided to carry out a CFD simula- (c) Duct flow with 90◦ 2.0 20 28.3 40.0
bend
tion of the flow field in the nozzle. Analysis was carried

2.5 Notes on inlet performance a design methodology has been formulated to reduce
these losses by integrating a plenum chamber with the
2.5.1 Choking upstream of the nozzle
inlet of the Tesla turbine.
Choking occurs when the ratio of inlet total pressure to
outlet static pressure across a converging flow passage 3.1 Requirements of plenum chamber inlet for a
becomes higher than a certain value, the limiting ratio Tesla turbine
is 1.89 for the isentropic flow of a perfect gas of isen-
From studies reported in references [3] and [10], and
tropic index 1.4 (air) [25]. At choked conditions, the
the available literature, a number of design require-
flow velocity at the minimum cross-section becomes
ments have been identified to which an improved
sonic and the non-dimensional mass flowrate cannot
nozzle design must conform.
rise any further (if no variation in p0 or T0 occurs).
In the test rig, it was found that for some of the 1. The nozzle must provide similar mass flow to each
nozzles, the inlet area (which was fixed for all cases disc passage.
to have a common connection to the compressed air 2. The nozzle and inlet demonstrate low total pres-
supply) was smaller than the nozzle outlet area (which sure losses over the inlet pressure range used by the
was varied according to how many discs were used in turbine.
the test Tesla turbine). This meant that choking would 3. Multiple different nozzle geometries must be able
occur in the duct upstream of the nozzle rather than at to be tested without modifying the inlet or turbine.
the throat of the nozzle. This is undesirable for several 4. It must be possible to test the efficiency of the
reasons. nozzle separately to the efficiency of the whole
turbine.
1. The flow velocity in the duct would be high. Since
5. The inlet must allow the total pressure and temper-
pressure losses increase with the square of the
ature to be measured directly before the nozzle.
velocity, as shown by equation (1), this would lead
to high total pressure losses [24].
2. The losses in total pressure in small nozzles 3.2 Working principles and design of plenum
decrease as the Reynolds number increases [30]. chamber
Thus, the best performance would be reached when
the flow velocity through the nozzle reached its A plenum chamber is a high pressure settling tank in
maximum value. If the flow chokes upstream of the which a fluid is brought to near-stagnation state. By
nozzle the maximum velocity through the nozzle the principle of conservation of mass this necessitates
may not be reached. a large increase in flow cross-sectional area.
3. The supposed ‘nozzle’ would act as a diffuser. Although plenum chambers are common compo-
nents in many engineering systems [35] there is little
Choking upstream of the nozzle may also mean that discussion in the literature devoted to them. This
a convergent–divergent passage may be formed, and fact is commented upon by Lau et al. [36]. There is
hence supersonic flow may occur. This needs further no guidance on how a plenum chamber should be
investigation. designed or how the design of a plenum chamber
would affect its performance. Several investigations,
2.5.2 Difficulty of determining stagnation pressure however, have been made into the pressure loss caused
at nozzle inlet by cylindrical plenum chambers with aligned and
non-aligned inlets and exits [36, 37].
Another problem faced by previous investigators using
this turbine [3] was that, due to geometric constraints, 3.2.1 Character of flow in a plenum chamber
it was not possible to measure the total pressure
exactly at the inlet of the nozzle. The closest place Harrison and Klemz [38] conducted a computational
where the measurement could be made was in the study into the flow in plenum chambers by numer-
elbow fitting upstream of the nozzle. There were a ically solving the 2D Navier–Stokes equations with
few abrupt changes in the flow cross-sectional area turbulence modelling using a finite difference scheme.
between the elbow fitting and the nozzle. Hoya and They concluded that the flow inside the plenum cham-
Guha [3] used empirical methods to estimate the ber could be termed as re-circulating since the flow
pressure drop, but accuracy of this method for a had no dominant direction. Sparrow and Bosmans
compressible flow regime is not clear. [37] found experimentally that the pressure loss in the
plenum chamber was insensitive to Reynolds num-
ber from which they concluded that inertial losses
3 DESIGN OF NEW INLET dominate frictional losses. They also found a large
swirling component in the fluid in the plenum cham-
It has been shown that the Tesla turbine’s inlet and ber. When studying the pressure loss caused by a
nozzle can be responsible for significant losses. Here cylindrical plenum chamber with axially aligned inlet

and outlet, Lau et al. [36] found that, in the range tested 3
l/d < 10, the pressure loss was always lower than the 4
1
loss expected for the combined effects of an abrupt 6
2 7
enlargement and an abrupt contraction occurring sep-
arately. They also found that the pressure loss in the
9
plenum chamber increased with the length of the 5
plenum chamber. This suggests that, as the plenum’s
length increases, the abrupt enlargement and contrac-
8
tion assert their separate identities to a greater extent
(i.e. the flow loses the character given to it by the
abrupt enlargement and becomes more uniform (like 10
a fully developed pipe flow)).
Although the above details provide a description of 11
the flow structure inside a plenum chamber, they do 12 13
not provide the analytical tools necessary to design a
plenum chamber. Fig. 2 Expanded view of the conceptual design for the
plenum chamber integration with turbine casing.
Keys: (1) inlet, (2) diffuser, (3) groove for O-ring,
3.2.2 Description of new plenum-integrated nozzle
(4) plenum chamber, (5) attachment to turbine
In order to address the paucity of information in housing, (6) integrated nozzle, (7) spacer, (8) slot
the literature, a new approach for the design of the in turbine casing, (9) end plate sealing plenum
plenum chamber was formulated, which is described chamber, (10) turbine housing, (11) disc rotor,
in Appendix 3. A finite difference approach to solve the (12) spindle, and (13) axle
1D isentropic flow equations was used to predict the
time-variation and steady state values of all flow vari- Figure 2 shows the expanded view of a conceptual
ables at different key points in the flow field, including design assembly for integrating the plenum chamber
the velocity of the flow at the inlet to the plenum cham- with the turbine casing. The turbine base-plate which
ber. The results from this analysis showed that for a holds the rotor has been excluded from the diagram
nozzle with a h = 6.3 mm and w 3 mm, the veloc- to allow the rotor and spindle to be fully visible. It
ity of the flow in the plenum inlet was sufficiently would be necessary to modify the turbine casing for
small that the fluid could be considered incompress- the new plenum chamber to be attached. One edge of
ible. The diameter ratio required to produce a near the casing is planed flat and a hole is cut into the casing
stagnant flow inside the plenum chamber was cal- to expose the discs (this could be achieved by a CNC
culated with two different approaches – continuity machine). The nozzle has a keyed section which slots
equation and pipe flow loss equations. This analy- into the hole in the turbine casing allowing the fluid to
sis showed for a diameter ratio of 0.04 the difference be injected onto the turbine. Flanges extending from
between the total and stagnation pressure would be of the plenum chamber allow the chamber to be bolted to
the order of 0.1 per cent. The length required for reat- the turbine. The whole assembly would be sealed by a
tachment was predicted using experimental sudden custom-made gasket. Because the turbine is primarily
enlargement data [39]. Full details of this approach impulsive, the internal static pressure is not signif-
can be found in Appendix 3. The final dimensions of icantly elevated above atmospheric pressure. This
the designed plenum chamber are as follows: inlet means that sealing between the plenum chamber and
diameter 6 mm, plenum diameter 25 mm, plenum the casing is important but not as critical as ensuring
length 150 mm. Stress calculations were undertaken that the inlet of the plenum chamber is sealed.
to ensure that the plenum chamber would be able to
contain pressures of up to 10 bar safely. 3.2.4 Estimating losses at the inlet of plenum
The plenum chamber was manufactured and tested chamber integrated in a Tesla turbine
with the old and new nozzles. The results are presented
in section 4. For the purpose of the present study which centres on
the design and performance of the nozzle, the inlet to
3.2.3 Integration of plenum chamber into existing the plenum chamber was left as an abrupt enlarge-
turbine rig ment. However, when building a real Tesla turbine
incorporating the plenum chamber, a diffuser should
The experimental results presented in this paper con- be used at the inlet of the plenum chamber, as shown
centrate on the performance of various nozzle–inlet in Fig. 2. This would allow the majority of the kinetic
assemblies. The purpose of the present design and energy of the flow to be conserved and converted into
testing was to prove the concept of using a plenum static pressure. Zaryankin [40] provides a method to
chamber as the inlet of a Tesla turbine. determine the losses associated with a diffuser by way

of formulating a friction factor that takes into account

the two main sources of loss in diffusers: friction losses
and expansion losses. Using this method, the maxi-
mum pressure loss which would be experienced in a
normal plenum operation is of the order of 0.03 bar.
3.3 Summary of the features on the designed

plenum chamber
A plenum chamber inlet with integrated nozzle has
been designed in such a way that the problems identi-
fied with the original turbine inlet nozzle in section 2.2
are mitigated. The plenum provides a near stagnant
flow directly before the nozzle which eliminates the
large pressure gradient identified in the original noz-
zles. This improves the uniformity of the flow across
the nozzle outlet area and reduces losses in total pres-
sure. This design also allows accurate measurement
of the stagnation pressure and temperature directly
before the nozzle allowing the percentage stagna-
tion pressure loss over the nozzle to be accurately Fig. 3 Experimental set-up for performing total pres-
determined. The plenum chamber design allows the sure traverses. Keys: (1) clamp on traverse,
efficiency of the nozzle to be measured individually (2) travelling element, (3) bar supporting Pitot
which would allow the efficiency of the disc rotor to be probe, (4) Pitot probe, (5) tube transmitting noz-
directly inferred. zle exit total pressure, (6) nozzle, (7) controller
interfacing the traverse with the computer, (8) G
clamps stabilizing assembly, (9) plenum cham-
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ber, (10) tube transmitting plenum total pressure,
(11) supply line from cylinder, (12) traverse power
Two principal experimental set-ups and results are supply, and (13) Scanivalve
presented here on the performance of nozzles and
inlets. The first line of investigation centred around
3. New plenum-integrated nozzle: the new plenum-
the loss of total pressure in various nozzle–inlet assem-
integrated nozzle was tested to determine the
blies. The test rig for this aspect of the study is shown in
extent of the efficiency improvement that could be
Fig. 1. The second line of investigation centred around
achieved by using a plenum chamber.
the uniformity of the jet over the cross section of the
nozzle outlet. The experimental set-up for this part of Air was used as the working fluid and was provided
study is shown in Fig. 3. by a high pressure cylinder with a maximum pressure
of 200 bar. This was reduced to the range 0–10 bar by a
two-stage pressure regulator. Air was delivered to the
4.1 Efficacy of various nozzle–inlet assemblies turbine via 8 mm pneumatic tubing. For the turbine
The losses associated with different nozzles and inlets inlet, stagnation and static pressure measurements
were tested in three scenarios to try to gain the best were taken at an elbow fitting directly before the fluid
insight into where the losses were occurring. entered the turbine casing. For the plenum chamber,
pressure measurements were taken by two pressure
1. Original nozzle and turbine inlet assembly: in this tappings – one pointing axially and the other radially.
test, the efficiency of the nozzle was tested inside The outlets from the pressure tappings were delivered
the turbine casing, replicating the conditions seen to a ZOC 22B Scanivalve via thin flexible tubing. The
by the nozzle in normal turbine operation. This test ZOC 22B Scanivalve has a full scale accuracy of 0.1 per
demonstrated the extent to which poor nozzle percent over the range 0–3.6 bar gauge pressure [41].
formance would impact on the measured efficiency
of the whole machine. 4.1.1 Comparison of inlet performances for
2. Original nozzle with plenum inlet: the original noz- 1.5 mm nozzle
zles were bolted to the new plenum chamber inlet.
This allowed the performance of the old nozzles on Figure 4 shows a comparison of the 1.5 mm nozzle
their own to be measured as the inlet now provided for the three different testing procedures outlined in
negligible losses. section 4.1. It can be seen that, for the original nozzle,

100 assemblies (1.5 × 6.3 mm nozzle exit). Results are tab-

Centreline ratio of total gauge pressures (%)
ulated at two inlet total pressure values, 1.5 and 3.5 bar.
95
As compared to the original nozzle and turbine assem-
90 bly, the new plenum-integrated nozzle has reduced
the loss by a factor of about 40–50 (an improvement
85
of 4000–5000 per cent).
80 By comparing the values in the second and the third
columns of Table 3, it can be seen that it is the original
75
inlet that is responsible for the majority of losses. This
70 shows that the original nozzle even with the 90◦ bend
has a reasonable efficiency. This is consistent with
65 the prediction made in section 2.4 that the favourable
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 pressure gradient caused by the nozzle would, to some
Nozzle exit total gauge pressure (bar)
extent, offset the adverse pressure gradients created
Fig. 4 Comparison of performance of 1.5 × 6.3 mm noz- by the 90◦ bend. By comparing the values in the last
zle with different inlets. Keys: __________ (top) new two columns of Table 3, it is seen that significant fur-
plenum-integrated nozzle, __ __ __ __ (middle) orig- ther reduction in total pressure loss is achieved by the
inal nozzle with plenum inlet, and − − − − − − − removal of the 90◦ bend within the nozzle.
(bottom) original nozzle with turbine inlet
assembly 4.1.2 Comparison of inlet performances with varying
nozzle width
the total pressure ratio across the nozzle increases with Similar experiments as in section 4.1.1 were conducted
increasing inlet pressure. This is because as the inlet for nozzles of different widths. The new plenum-
pressure increases, the Mach number of the flow in integrated nozzle maintained a total pressure loss
the nozzle increases. This causes the boundary layers below 1 per cent for all nozzles tested – up to 3 mm
to become thinner which reduces the viscous losses in width. For the original nozzle with turbine inlet assem-
the nozzle [30, 31]. After the flow is choked, the static bly, the loss in total pressure increased further by a
pressure of the jet at the nozzle exit increases with significant amount as nozzle width increased. This
increasing nozzle inlet total pressure, which results in is because as the nozzle area gets closer to the duct
an increased fluid density in the nozzle. Consequently area the flow velocity in the duct gets closer to the
the Reynolds number of the flow increases monotoni- jet velocity. This significantly increases losses due to
cally with increasing supply pressure when the nozzle changes in the pipe direction and changes in the pipe
outlet area is kept fixed. This manifests itself in the loss cross-sectional area because these losses scale with
in total pressure decreasing monotonically with sup- the square of the velocity. Thus, the difference in total
ply pressure. For the new plenum-integrated nozzle, pressure loss between the original inlet and the new
the loss in total pressure is very low and there is scatter plenum-integrated nozzle would be much higher than
in the data, making it difficult to rationalize any trend. what is shown between the second and fourth columns
Comparing the performance of the different inlets, it of Table 3 when the nozzle outlet area increases.
can be seen that the original nozzle and turbine assem-
bly has the poorest performance and the plenum- 4.1.3 Summary of results on efficacy of nozzle–inlet
integrated nozzle has the highest performance. Table 3 assemblies
summarizes the loss in total pressure, as percent of
The inlet and nozzle were responsible for significant
nozzle inlet total pressure, for various inlet-nozzle
pressure losses in the turbine. Most of this loss was
due to abrupt changes in area and the 90◦ elbow in the
inlet, and the 90◦ bend in the nozzle. This conclusively
Table 3 Comparison of loss in total pressure, as per-
shows that the inlet and nozzle to the Tesla disc turbine
cent of nozzle inlet total pressure, for various
need not be ‘long and inefficient’ as was concluded in
inlet–nozzle assemblies (1.5 × 6.3 mm nozzle
reference [2].
exit)
% loss in total pressure

4.2 Pitot tube traverse results to assess the
Total Original Original New
pressure at nozzle and nozzle with plenum- uniformity of jets
nozzle inlet turbine plenum integrated
(bar) assembly inlet nozzle So far the performance comparison between the noz-
zles has been made by comparing the ratio of centre-
1.5 23 4 0.5 line total pressures. In reality, the comparison should
3.5 14.5 2.3 0.4
be made between the average total pressure across the

flow before and after the nozzle as this accounts for Table 4 Comparison of area over which Pitot measure-
the fact that the total pressure is not constant across ment is approximately representative of actual
the jet or the inlet. In order to assess the extent of centre-line total pressure as a function allowable
flow non-uniformity and to ascertain the extent to maximum error
which a single Pitot tube measurement at an approxi-
Central portion of jet as % of height over which the
mately centre-line position represents averaged value, variation in total pressure is within the error limit
Pitot tube traverses were conducted in both directions
Original Original
(width and height) over the nozzle outlet area. The Plenum- nozzle with nozzle with
experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 3. This involved integrated turbine turbine
using a high precision traverse mechanism, which is Maximum nozzle assembly assembly
error (%) 1.5 × 6.3 mm 1.5 × 6.3 mm 2 × 20 mm
digitally precision-controlled through a computer.
The non-uniformity in total pressure is caused by 1 81 32 10
two major effects. Bends in the inlet and within the 2 87 45 20
3 87 54 35
nozzle distorts the flow as explained in section 2. This 4 87 61 52
will be more prevalent in the height-wise direction in 5 87 74 52
the original nozzle and turbine assembly. The action
of viscosity (wall effect) also creates non-uniformity in no favourable pressure gradient. In contrast to this,
total pressure. As a percent of nozzle dimension this the 1.5 mm nozzle has a much less distorted profile
will be more pronounced in the direction of nozzle because the favourable pressure gradient caused by
width (since the widths of the nozzles are smaller than the nozzle counteracts the adverse pressure gradients
their respective heights). caused by the sudden bend. These results match and
Figure 5 and Table 4 show illustrative results for three verify the 2D CFD results discussed in Appendix 2.
nozzle–inlet assemblies. Table 4 shows how effectively The greater the flow non-uniformity, the greater
a Pitot tube approximately positioned at the centre would be the difference between the centre-line total
would record a value close to the true centre-line total pressure and the area-weighted value. Since in quasi-
pressure. From Fig. 5 it can be seen that the nozzle and 1D analysis of performance of turbines and nozzles
inlet has a very definite impact on the uniformity of only one representative value is used at each section of
the flow from the nozzle. As would be expected, the the flow path, efficiencies calculated on the basis of the
plenum chamber has a very symmetrical profile. The centre-line values may be significantly different from
original nozzles that incorporate the 90◦ bend tend their true values (if the flow non-uniformity is severe).
to have a higher total pressure towards the outside The effects of non-uniformity on area-weighted total
of the bend. This is far more apparent on the noz- pressures, for various nozzle–inlet assemblies, are dis-
zle with a 20 mm width. This is because the outlet cussed in Appendix 2. The results in Appendix 2 show
area of that nozzle is larger than the nozzle entrance, that for a badly designed nozzle the actual perfor-
this means that there is no contraction and therefore mance would be much worse than the efficiency
calculated using centre-line total pressure values.
1.0
0.9 5 CONCLUSION
Total gauge pressures ratio
0.8
0.7 In this work, the performance of the inlet to a Tesla disc
0.6 turbine has been thoroughly studied and the causes of
0.5 loss have been established. It has been shown that the
0.4 nozzle and inlet are responsible for a large proportion
0.3 of the losses in traditional designs of a Tesla turbine.
0.2 The work reports on how to significantly improve the
0.1 performance of the inlet and the nozzle, in the past the
0.0 poor performance of which has often been assumed to
0.0 0.5 1.0
Normalised distance along the major be unavoidable [2].
dimension of the nozzle A new nozzle utilizing a plenum chamber inlet
has been designed and tested. Experiments have
Fig. 5 Results from experimental total pressure demonstrated less than 1 per cent loss in total pres-
traverses along the major dimension of sure in the new design compared to losses in the range
the nozzle outlet. Keys: _______ 1.5 × 6.3 mm 13–34 per cent for the original nozzle and inlet. As
plenum-integrated nozzle, - - - - - 1.5 × 6.3 mm compared to the old inlet–nozzle assembly, the new
original nozzle, and __ __ __ 2.0 × 20.0 mm original design reduced the loss in total pressure by a very large
nozzle (for these tests, the inlet centre-line total factor (40–50). This would significantly improve the
gauge pressure is 0.5 bar) overall efficiency of the Tesla disc turbine. This result

shows that the suggestion in the literature that the 2 Rice,W. Tesla turbomachinery. In Handbook of turboma-
nozzle and inlet were responsible for significant losses chinery (Ed. E. Logan), 2003, pp. 861–874 (Marcel Dekker,
is true but that the nozzle and inlet can, with careful New York).
design, perform very efficiently. 3 Hoya, G. P. and Guha, A. The design of a test rig and study
of the performance and efficiency of a Tesla disc turbine.
Other than the dramatic improvement in loss reduc-
Proc. IMechE, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 2009, 223(A4),
tion, the new plenum-integrated nozzle achieves a
451–465. DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE664.
considerable enhancement in the uniformity of the 4 Tesla, N. Fluid propulsion. US Patent 1,061,142, May
jet. This has been demonstrated here both by experi- 1913.
mental traverses of Pitot tubes as well as CFD studies. 5 Tesla, N. Turbine. US Patent 1,061,206, May 1913.
The greater uniformity of the jet means that a single 6 Cairns, W. M. J. The Tesla disc turbine, 2003 (Camden
Pitot measurement approximately positioned at the Miniature Steam Services, Great Britain).
centre of the jet would record a value close to the 7 Armstrong, J. H. An investigation of the performance of
true centre-line total pressure, and that calculations a modified Tesla turbine. MS Thesis, Georgia Institute of
based on centre-line values of total pressure would Technology, June 1952.
give, to a good accuracy, the area-averaged loss coef- 8 Beans, E. W. Investigation into the performance char-
acteristics of a friction turbine. J. Spacecr., 1966, 3(1),
ficient of the nozzle–inlet assembly. The uniformity of
131–134.
the jet also means that all disc passages would receive
9 Davydov, A. B. and Sherstyuk, A. N. Experimental
uniform inlet conditions; this should improve the per- research on a disc microturbine. Russ. Eng. J., 1980, 60(8),
formance of the rotor thereby further enhancing the 19–22.
overall efficiency of the Tesla turbine. 10 McGarey, S. and Monson, P. Performance and efficiency
A design has been put forward which would allow of disk turbines. MEng research project report no. 1203,
the plenum chamber and nozzle to be integrated with University of Bristol, 2007.
the current turbine with only minimal changes to the 11 Guha, A. Optimisation and design of aero gas turbine
casing being required. By interchanging the nozzle engines. Aeronaut. J., 2001, 105(1049), 345–358.
with other different geometries, it would be easy to 12 Guha, A. A unified theory of aerodynamic and condensa-
study how the way in which the fluid is injected into tion shock waves in vapour-droplet flows with or without
a carrier gas. Phys. Fluids, 1994, 6(5), 1893–1913.
the rotor affects the overall machine efficiency.
13 Guha, A. Structure of partly dispersed normal shock
This design paves the way for the efficiency of the
waves in vapour-droplet flows. Phys. Fluids A, 1992, 4(7),
rotor to be determined experimentally for the first 1566–1578.
time. Up till now, experimenters have measured the 14 Guha, A. Jump conditions across normal shock waves
overall efficiency of the whole turbine. Since this in pure vapour-droplet flows. J. Fluid Mech., 1992, 241,
figure included nozzle losses, rotor losses, and exhaust 349–369.
losses, it was difficult to determine quantitatively 15 Guha, A. A unified theory for the interpretation of total
which component was responsible for the poor per- pressure and temperature in two-phase flows at sub-
formance of the turbine. With a nozzle that can be sonic and supersonic speeds. Proc. R. Soc., 1998, 454,
removed from the turbine casing, the nozzle efficiency 671–695.
can be determined in isolation thus allowing the rotor 16 Guha, A. Computation, analysis and theory of two-phase
flows. Aeronaut. J., 1998, 102(1012), 71–82.
efficiency to be inferred more accurately.
17 Lawn Jr, M. J. and Rice,W. Calculated design data for the
multiple-disk turbine using incompressible fluid. Trans.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ASME, J. Fluids Eng., 1974, 96, 252–258.
18 Allen, J. Examining the Tesla turbine. In Proceedings of
the 27th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, 9–12
The authors would like to express their gratitude to
January 1989, AIAA Paper 89–0838.
Renate Stump for her help with the CFD studies with
19 Mattingly, J. D. Elements of gas turbine propulsion, 1996
Fluent as given in Appendix 2, and to P. Margaris for his (McGraw Hill International Editions, Singapore).
help with the Pitot traverse experiments. The authors 20 Cohen, H., Rogers, G. F. C., and Saravanamuttoo, H. I. H.
are grateful to, among others, Keven Chappell, Sam Gas turbine theory, 4th edition, 1996 (Longman Group
Beale (Rolls-Royce), Lindsay Clare, Steve Macqueen, Ltd, Cornwall).
Sandy Mitchell, and the technicians of the engineering 21 Guha, A. Performance and optimization of gas tur-
faculty of University of Bristol. bines with real gas effects. Proc. IMechE, Part A:
J. Power and Energy, 2001, 215(A4), 507–512. DOI:
© Authors 2010 10.1243/0957650011538631.
22 Guha, A. An efficient generic method for calculating the
properties of combustion products. Proc. IMechE, Part
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1 Rice, W. An analytical and experimental investigation 23 Guha, A. Optimum fan pressure ratio for bypass engines
of multiple-disk turbines. J. Eng. Power, 1965, 87(1), with separate or mixed exhaust streams. AIAA J., 2001,
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24 Crane. Flow of fluids through valves, fittings and pipes, n time step
1982 (Crane Co., New York). p absolute static pressure
25 Massey, B. Mechanics of fluids, 8th edition, 2006 (Taylor p0 absolute total pressure
& Francis, Oxon). p̄ gauge pressure
26 Crawford, N. M., Cunningham, G., and Spedding, P. L. p change in total pressure
Prediction of pressure drop for turbulent fluid flow in
R gas constant
90◦ bends. J. Process Mech. Eng., 2003, 217, 153–155.
27 Anderson Jr, J. D. Fundamentals of aerodynamics, 3rd
t time
edition, 2001 (McGraw Hill, New York). T static temperature
28 Shepherd, D. G. Principles of turbomachinery, 1956 (The u velocity
Macmillan Company, New York). w Nozzle’s minor dimension (width)
29 Shames, I. H. Mechanics of fluids, 4th edition, 2002 xL reattachment length
(McGraw-Hill Professional, New York).
30 Butenko, V. A., Rylov, Y. P., and Chikov, V. P. Experi- β diameter ratio = di /do
mental investigation of the characteristics of small-sized change in quantity
nozzles. Izv. Akad. Naur SSSR, 1976, 6, 137–140. static to total pressure ratio = p/p0
31 Whalen, V. M. Low Reynolds number nozzle flow study. ρ fluid density
MS Thesis, NASA technical memoranum, 1987.
γ ratio of specific heats
32 Benedict, R. P., Carlucci, N. A., and Swetz, S. D. Flow
losses in abrupt enlargements and contractions. J. Eng.
ratio of total gauge pressures = p̄0o /p̄0i
Power, 1966, 88, 73–81.
33 Fluent Inc. FLUENT 6.3 user’s guide, 2003–2004 (Fluent Subscripts
Inc., Lebanon).
34 Fluent Inc. Gambit user’s guide, 2009, available c duct contraction loss
from http://web.njit.edu/topics/Prog_Lang_Docs/html/ e duct expansion loss
FLUENT/fluent/gambit/help/users_guide/ugtoc.htm. f friction loss
35 Williams, G. H. Homebuilt hovercraft, Flight Interna- i inlet
tional Supplement, 28 January 1965. o outlet
36 Lau, S. C., Sparrow, E. M., and Ramsey, J. W. Effect of
plenum length and diameter on turbulent heat transfer
in a downstream tube and on plenum-related pressure
APPENDIX 2 CFD STUDY OF THE FLOW IN
losses. J. Heat Transfer, 1981, 103, 415–421.
THE INLET AND NOZZLE
37 Sparrow, E. M. and Bosmans, L. D. Heat transfer and
fluid flow experiments with a tube fed by a plenum
having nonaligned inlet and exit. Trans. ASME, J. Heat As was described in section 2.4.4, CFD analysis with
Transfer, 1983, 105, 56–62. FLUENT was undertaken to provide insight into the
38 Harrison, J. A. and Klemz, B. L. An investigation of the flowfield in three different nozzle–inlet combinations.
steady fluid flow within a simple plenum chamber. High- Simulations were run with a nozzle inlet total pressure
Speed Surf. Craft, 1982, 32–34. of 1.56 bar, the jet discharging into atmosphere. The
39 So, R. M. C. Inlet centerline turbulence effects on total temperature was taken to be 288 K. The solution
reattachment length. Exp. Fluids, 1987, 5, 424–426. was considered to have converged when the residuals
40 Zaryankin, A. E. A note on calculating losses in diffuser
were below 1e-6.
elements. Inz.-Fiz. Zh., 1965, 8(4), 531–535.
Figure 6 shows the predictions of FLUENT for the
41 Scanivalve Corp. ZOC 22B electronic pressure scanning
module, instruction and service manual, 2005, available three geometries. The contours of total gauge pres-
from Scanivalve site www.scanivalve.com. sure are shown. The plenum-like nozzle produces a
very uniform jet with low losses in total pressure. Both
nozzles that incorporated the 90◦ bend at the outlet
APPENDIX 1 had flow separation at the inside edge and a higher
total pressure on the outside than the inside. This fits
with the experimental results (section 4.2) and the
Notation
theory that was presented in section 2.2. The total pres-
a speed of sound sure profile of the nozzle with a height of 20 mm was
A cross-sectional area more severely distorted than the nozzle with a 6.3 mm
d diameter height. It has been explained in section 2.2.3 that the
F friction factor outlet area of the nozzle with a height of 20 mm is
h Nozzle’s major dimension (height) greater than the area of the inlet duct and hence the
H enlargement step size = (do − di )/2 counterbalancing effect of a favourable pressure gra-
k pressure loss coefficient dient that is usually present in a nozzle is not present
l length here.
ṁ mass flowrate Figure 7 shows the variation of total pressure ratio
M mach number across the major dimension of the three nozzles as

0.650
0.604
0.558
0.512
0.466
0.420
0.374
0.328
0.282
0.236
0.190
0.144
0.098
0.052
0.006
(a) (b) (c)
-0.040
Fig. 6 Total gauge pressure contour plots for various nozzles, results of CFD analysis. Keys:
(a) 1.5 × 6.3 mm plenum-integrated nozzle (flow from top to bottom), (b) 1.5 × 6.3 mm
original nozzle (flow from top to lower right), and (c) 2.0 × 20 mm original nozzle (flow from
top to right)
1 Table 5 Comparison of area weighted total gauge

pressure ratios (p̄0o,average /p̄0i ) obtained from
CFD and experiment
Total gauge pressures ratio
0.8
Ratio of
0.6 Ratio of total
total pressures
pressures from Percentage
0.4 Nozzle–inlet from CFD experiment difference
0.2 Plenum-integrated nozzle 0.95 0.94 1

1.5 × 6.3 mm
Original nozzle with 0.66 0.64 3
0 turbine assembly
0 0.5 1 1.5 × 6.3 mm
Normalised distance along the major Original nozzle with 0.47 0.41 15
dimension of the nozzle turbine assembly
2 × 20 mm
Fig. 7 Total pressure profiles at nozzle exit, results
of CFD analysis. Keys: _______ 1.5 × 6.3 mm
plenum-integrated nozzle, - - - - 1.5 × 6.3 mm slightly greater difference between the experiments
original nozzle, and __ __ __ 2.0 × 20 mm original and CFD results for this case.
nozzle
APPENDIX 3 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF THE
predicted by the CFD simulations. This can be com- PLENUM CHAMBER AND THE NEW
pared with Fig. 5, where the measured values of the INLET–NOZZLE ASSEMBLY
same quantities were plotted. There is good qualitative
agreement between the experimental and computa- Owing to the lack of information available in the lit-
tional results. Area-weighted average total pressure erature about how to size a plenum chamber, it was
was calculated from the CFD results for the three necessary to develop analytical and empirical tools to
geometries and is presented in Table 5. predict the flow characteristics in a plenum chamber.
Table 5 shows that there is very close agreement Figure 8 gives an idealized description of the reser-
between the CFD and experimental results for the voir (which represents the cylinder condition after the
two nozzles with a height of 6.3 mm. This shows that pressure regulator) and plenum, in which the impor-
the 2D CFD model in these cases sufficiently cap- tant locations are numbered. These numbers are used
tures the most salient characteristics of the real 3D as subscripts for all variables in the following analysis.
flow. For the experiments with the original nozzle, the
measured values include the loss in the inlet section, Determination of flow variables: equations and
whereas the CFD simulation was applied only to the a numerical scheme
nozzle inserts. For the 2 × 20 mm nozzle, the exit area
is larger than the cross-sectional area of the inlet duct. It is assumed that the plenum and the nozzle are ini-
This meant a high velocity in the inlet, with corre- tially at atmospheric pressure. The equations and the
spondingly higher losses there – this accounts for the numerical scheme developed below calculate how the

Reservoir Plenum Chamber Equation (11) can be written purely in terms of

stagnation quantities and pressure

1/γ 2γ RT0 (γ −1)/γ
p p
ṁ = ρ0 A 1− (13)
p0 γ −1 p0
1 2 3 4
It is a standard practice when formulating numerical
Fig. 8 Schematic diagram of plenum chamber used for schemes to solve for a steady state problem to formu-
unsteady analysis late an unsteady equation where the time derivative
represents the level of error present at that time step.
This allows the solution to be iterated. Convergence
is achieved when the time derivative reaches zero.
different flow variables at the numbered locations in When the system reaches steady conditions, the mass
Fig. 8 develop with time as the valve in the high pres- flowrate at 2 will equal the mass flowrate at 4. This
sure cylinder is suddenly switched on. The following implies that the mass of air inside the plenum chamber
computation therefore gives an unsteady analysis, the (point 3) will not change with time
steady solution is obtained as the asymptotic limit of
the same computations. dm3
= ṁ2 − ṁ4 = Error in solution (14)
For isentropic flow, the mass flow through an ori- dt
fice can be determined if the inlet stagnation pressure,
the outlet static pressure, the area of the orifice, This equation can be represented using a first-order
and stagnation temperature are known. It is evident finite difference approximation
that initially when the valve from the cylinder to the
m3n = m3n−1 + t(ṁ2n−1 − ṁ4n−1 ) (15)
plenum chamber is first opened, this is an unsteady
problem. The pressure in the plenum chamber would
where
rise because the mass flow at 2 would be larger than

the mass flow at 4. Eventually, however, steady state p3 pa
conditions would be reached where the mass flowrate ṁ2 = f , A2 , ṁ4 = f , A4 (16)
p0 p0
at 2 is equal to the mass flowrate at 4.
Writing the conservation of mass for a compressible Since the cross-sectional area of the plenum cham-
fluid ber is large, it is assumed that the total and static
pressure in the plenum chamber are nearly equal. The
calculation procedure is as follows.
ṁ = ρAu (8)
1. Calculate inlet mass flowrate using p01 and p2 .
2. As a simple approximation, assume that the kinetic
The speed of sound in an ideal gas and the equation energy at point 2 is lost as the jet enters into the
relating Mach number to velocity can be written as plenum chamber. As a result p2 = p3 = p03 .
follows 3. Calculate exit mass flowrate using p04 and p4 . p04 is
assumed to be the same as p03 which is calculated
using equation (12). The plenum Mach number is
a= γ RT (9)
calculated from equation (11).
u 4. Calculate the net mass flow out of the plenum
M= (10)
a chamber and hence the updated mass of fluid
inside the plenum chamber.
5. Calculate the updated pressure in the plenum
Combining equations (8) to (10) results in
chamber using the equation of state. The tempera-
ture is taken to be the temperature at the exit of the

ṁ = ρAM γ RT (11) inlet duct.
6. Repeat until the mass of fluid in the plenum
chamber reaches a steady state.
Using the standard relations for isentropic flow [27]
Equation (15) was iterated using Matlab for a num-
ber of different conditions: cylinder absolute pressure
γ γ /(γ −1) and nozzle width were varied.
p ρ T γ − 1 2 −γ /(γ −1)
= = = 1+ M Figure 9 shows the time evolution of the plenum
p0 ρ0 T0 2 inlet and exit Mach numbers. It shows that initially
(12) the inlet duct is choked and the mass flowrate through


p3 1 − 2
= 1 + 2β 2 (1 − β 2 ) (19)
p2 2
These two equations can be combined to form

a relationship for the total to static pressure after
the abrupt enlargement (after flow reattachment has
occurred) as a function of the total to static pressure
before the abrupt enlargement
1 + 2β 2 (1 − 2 /2 ) (1 − β 2 )
3 = 2 (20)
1 − (1 − 2 )(β 2 − 1)2
Equation (20) is used to determine an appropriate

diameter ratio to produce a near stagnant flow in the
plenum chamber, and is plotted in Fig. 10.
Fig. 9 Development with time of plenum inlet and exit Figure 10 shows that, for diameter ratios lower than
Mach numbers. Keys: - - - - - M2 , ______ M4 (for an 0.25, the flow nearly stagnates inside the plenum
inlet gauge pressure of 3.51 bar) chamber. As an example, equation (17) predicts the
plenum Mach number is 0.019 for an inlet Mach num-
the exit duct is zero. As time passes, the mass flowrate ber 0.3 and a diameter ratio of 0.25. Equation (20)
through the exit duct increases until it reaches choked would predict a plenum Mach number of 0.02 for
condition. By this time, the inlet Mach number (M2 ) these flow conditions. Thus, the two methods give very
has decreased significantly (since the pressure in the nearly the same answer.
plenum chamber has risen). The other important dimension of the plenum
This graph shows that it takes up to a second for the chamber is the axial length. Lau et al. [36] experimen-
plenum chamber to reach steady state conditions. This tally showed that for a plenum chamber with a length
was taken into account during experimental testing. to diameter ratio of 10 the flow did not completely lose
its history as the loss coefficient was still lower than
what would be expected from the combined effects
Determination of the diameter and length of the of an abrupt enlargement and an abrupt contraction
plenum chamber occurring separately. This suggests that the flow still
The diameter of the plenum chamber is determined by had characteristics of a jet and might not have fully
two methods: (i) simple continuity consideration and re-attached. The analysis carried out by Benedict et al.
(ii) model to include viscous losses. [32] is only valid after the flow has re-attached so it is
necessary to find a method to determine the length it
Continuity consideration takes for the flow to re-attach.
As no analytical tool to make this prediction could
The incompressible continuity equation can be re- be found in the literature it was necessary to use
arranged to yield the expected plenum velocity for a experimental data. So [39] carried out a survey of the
given diameter ratio
u3 = u2 β 2 (17)
Prediction of total to static pressure ratio including

viscous losses
To complement the simple analysis above it was
decided to perform an analysis where viscous losses
were considered. A flow can be considered stagnant
if the ratio of the total pressure to the static pressure
is equal to 1. This means that the flow has no bulk-
directed kinetic energy. Benedict et al. [32] performed
analysis on sudden enlargements in pipes for steady
incompressible flow and provide a means of calculat-
ing the change in stagnation pressure and change in
static pressure over an abrupt enlargement Fig. 10 Ratio of static to total pressure in the plenum
p03 with varying diameter ratios (for various p2 /p02 ,
= 1 − (1 − 2 )(1 − 2β 2 + β 4 ) (18) refer to Fig. 8 for locations of points)
p02

pattern for the variation of xL /H with d2 /d1 . However,

this shows that there is approximately a linear rela-
tion between the reattachment length xL and the step
height H . The maximum xL /H value found by So was
just under 10.
The following empirical method was used to deter-
mine the maximum reattachment length for a chosen
diameter ratio
(d2 − d1 ) d1
H= = (β −1 − 1) (21)
2 2
It was noted previously that in order to achieve a
nearly stagnant condition inside the plenum chamber
a diameter ratio of 0.25 was necessary. Equation (21)
Fig. 11 A plot of xL /H versus d3 /d2 for axisymmetric gives the required value of H as equal to (3/2)d1 . Since
sudden-expansion flows, data from reference Fig. 11 shows that the maximum value for xL /H is 10.
[39] Therefore, maximum reattachment length would be
15 d1 .
This shows that if the plenum chamber is 15 times
literature relating to reattachment lengths for axisym- the inlet diameter then the flow will reattach. It was
metric sudden enlargement flows. Figure 11 shows decided to design the plenum chamber conserva-
a compilation of the reattachment lengths found by tively so the length was set to 25 times the inlet
So. The compiled data does not show any systematic diameter.


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Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical

Engineers, Part A: http://pia.sagepub.com/

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Institution of Mechanical Engineers

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Experiment and analysis for an improved design

1 INTRODUCTION impact on the overall performance of Tesla disc tur-

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

1.3 Difference between experimental and

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

of formulating a friction factor that takes into account

3.3 Summary of the features on the designed

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

100 assemblies (1.5 × 6.3 mm nozzle exit). Results are tab-

% loss in total pressure

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

1 Table 5 Comparison of area weighted total gauge

0.2 Plenum-integrated nozzle 0.95 0.94 1

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

Reservoir Plenum Chamber Equation (11) can be written purely in terms of

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

These two equations can be combined to form

Equation (20) is used to determine an appropriate

Prediction of total to static pressure ratio including

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE818

pattern for the variation of xL /H with d2 /d1 . However,

JPE818 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part A: J. Power and Energy

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