Jtam.dvi JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED MECHANICS 49, 2, pp. 477-499, Warsaw 2011 INVESTIGATIONS OF AERODYNAMICS OF TESLA BLADELESS MICROTURBINES Piotr Lampart Łukasz Jędrzejewski The Szewalski Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences, Gdańsk, Poland lampart@imp.gda.pl; jedrzejewski@imp.gda.pl The paper presents an analysis of a Tesla bladeless turbine for a co- generatingmicro-power plant of heat capacity 20kW, which operates in an organicRankine cyclewith a low-boilingmedium.Numerical calcula- tions of theflow in severalTesla turbinemodels areperformed for a range of design parameters.Results of the investigations exhibit interesting fe- atures in the distribution of flowparameterswithin the turbine interdisk space. The efficiency of the Tesla turbine depends onmany parameters, including pressure, temperature and velocity conditions, rotational spe- ed of the rotor as well as on the number, diameter, distance between the disks and the state of the disk surface and, finally, on the number and arrangement of the supply nozzles. The calculated flow efficiences of the investigatedTesla turbine models show that the best obtained solutions can be competitive as compared with classical small bladed turbines. Key words: bladeless frictin turbine, flow efficiency, CFD simulation 1. Introduction The first bladeless turbine, also known as a friction turbine, was designed and manufactured by a Serbian engineer and inventor Nicola Tesla in 1913 (Tesla, 1913). This unusual device makes use of viscous effects which occur in the boundary layer flow. Opposite to classical bladed turbines, where viscous effects in flow are undesirable as a source of efficiency loss, these effects enable rotational movement of the rotor. The rotor consists of up to a few dozens of thin disks locked on a shaft perpendicular to its axis of revolution. In theory, the disks should be as thin as possible. The distances, or gaps, between the disks should also be very small. According toRice (1991), the highest value of efficiency appears when they are approximately equal to the double boundary 478 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski layer thickness. Therefore, the gaps between the disks should depend on the occurring flow conditions and physical properties of the working fluid. On the other hand, the thickness of the disks and the distances between them are also limited by the material strength and the technology of manufacture and assembly. An example of themultidisk rotor construction of the Tesla turbine found in the patent documentation (Hicks, 2005) is shown in Fig.1. Fig. 1. Rotor of a multidisc Tesla bladeless turbine (Hicks, 2005) The supply of the Tesla turbine is accomplished by one or several noz- zles discretely located along the circumference. The nozzles are tilted under a certain angle to the disk tangent. The working fluid flows between the disks spirally from the outer to inner radius and transfers energy to the rotating disks. Themedium flows out in the axial direction through a number of holes in the disks situated near the turbine shaft. The efficiency of theTesla turbine depends onmany parameters, namely on: pressure, temperature and velocity conditions between the disks, number, diameter, thickness and distance be- tween the disks as well as on the state of the disk surface, rotational speed of the rotor, number and arrangement of the supply nozzles, etc. In the subject-matter literature, examples of experimental research refer- ring to the following models of Tesla micro-turbines can be found: • ∼ 1.8kW output power, 18000rpm, 16% efficiency (Mikielewicz et al., 2008) • ∼ 50W output power, 1000rpm, 21% efficiency (North, 1969) • ∼ 1.5kW output power, 12000rpm, 23% efficiency (Hicks, 2005; Rice, 1965) • ∼ 1kW output power, 12000rpm, 24% efficiency (Beans, 1966) • ∼ 3kW output power, 15000rpm, 32% efficiency (Gruber and Earl, 1960) Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 479 • ∼ 1.5kWoutputpower, 120000rpm,49%efficiency (Davydov andSher- styuk, 1980). Most models listed above were tested for low rotational speeds not exce- eding18000rpmwhichmakes the selection of an electric generator easy (Tesla, 1913). Experimental works aimed first of all at establishing relationships be- tween the turbine efficiency and working parameters given below: • distance between micro-turbine disks • number, diameter and state of the disk surface of micro-turbine disks • number and construction of inlet nozzles • rotational speed of the rotor • medium inlet pressure, temperature, velocity and angle • corrosion and erosion of micro-turbine elements • constructionalmaterials (composites, ceramicmaterials, bronzes, alumi- nium alloys) • kind of medium flowing through the micro-turbine (air, biogas, organic agents, exhaust gases, multi-phase media). Prototypes of Tesla microturbine generators working on air or wa- ter steam were designed at Phoenix Navigation & Guidance Inc. (http://phoenixnavigation.com). They operate on up to 10.5bar of inlet pres- sure and are manufactured in two options of the disk diameter: • Turbogen-1 – 4.5” generating 250W of electric power • Turbogen-2 – 6.5” generating 750W of electric power. Examples are shown in Fig.2. Not only turbines but also compressors, pumps and gas turbine sets can be built on the basis of the same working principle. Fig. 2. 4.5” Tesla microturbines working on a water steam 480 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski There is a number of possible applications where Tesla turbines can be considered, including: • biomass fuelled power plants • heat recovery installations • co-generation systems • systems using solar energy • plants with low temperature geothermal medium • installations where exhaust heat can be utilized. There are many technical benefits and a quite big potential for the con- struction of Tesla microturbines, especially those working in anOrganic Ran- kine cycle, but not only (Kosowski, 2007): • relatively high cycle and turbine efficiency (in theory) • low mechanical stress in the turbine due to its small size and low peri- pheral speeds • low speed of the turbine rotor, allowing even the direct drive of the electric generator without a reduction gear • no erosion of blades, due to the absence of moisture (if a working fluid other than water is used) • long lifetime • no operator is required • simple start-stop operation • quiet operation • low level of maintenance requirements • good part load performance • no axial loads • easy to repair • cheaper thanbladed turbines due to the simple construction of the rotor. Although the project of bladeless turbine is known for almost one hundred years, there are still someweak points and several issues that should be better recognized such as (Lampart et al., 2009): • the efficiency about 30% is rather too small a value • correlations between the number of supply nozzles and the slope angle of the nozzles • influence of the state of disk surface on the turbine efficiency Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 481 • find out the optimum degree of reaction • negative influence of shock wave occurrence. Most of these problems are addressed in this paper using numerical me- thods. 2. Computational domains The calculation domains for the investigated models of Tesla microturbines are prepared with the help of the software Gambit (Fluent Inc., 2000). Two groups of models are analysed: 1) with the fluid outflow to the shaft, 2) with the outflow through the holes located at a certain low diameter of the disks. The considered Tesla turbine models consist of 11 rotating disks (12 flow channels of the interdisk space).The investigations aremade for twodiameters of the disks – 100mm and 300mm. Themodels are equipped with two, four, six or eight supply nozzles discretely located along the circumference. Nozzle throats are carefully selected for each model to obtain the same value of the mass flow rate for a specific pressure drop referring to the nominal operating conditions.Moreover, the supplynozzles differ in slope angle – twomagnitudes of inlet angle relative to the disk tangent are considered: 10◦ and 15◦. The first group ofmodels represent a simplification of real geometry of Te- sla turbines. The outlet area is simplified here in a way to allow the medium outflow from the turbine flow passage along the entire circumference of the shaft, in the radial direction. The presence of the tip clearance is neglected. The calculations are carried out in a fixed (motionless) reference frame, with turbine disk walls kept in rotational motion. Due to model symmetry and an assumption of flow recurrence in each interdisk passage, the computatio- nal domain contains only a half of the single interdisk space (with the flow symmetry assumed in a central interdisk plane) and supply nozzles. Figure 3 presents images of the calculation area for several turbinemodels (first group ofmodels) with four, six and eight inlet nozzles. Basic geometrical parameters of particular investigated models (group 1) are given in Table 1. The second group ofmodels represent full geometry of 11-disk Tesla turbi- nes with the outer casing and the radial gap above the disks. Flow symmetry is assumed which reduces the computational domain to 5 and 1/2 disks and 482 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski Fig. 3. Calculation domain for three different nozzle configurations of the simplified model of a Tesla turbine Table 1.Geometrical properties of calculation domains for Tesla turbinemo- dels No. Inlet Width Outer radius Inner radius No. of angle of gap of the disk of the disk of nozzles β [deg] t [m] r1 [m] r2 [m] cells 4 10◦ 0.00025 0.05 0.02 398736 4 15◦ 0.00025 0.05 0.02 478656 6 10◦ 0.00025 0.05 0.02 396000 6 15◦ 0.00025 0.05 0.02 370800 8 10◦ 0.00025 0.05 0.02 540000 8 15◦ 0.00025 0.05 0.02 576000 2 10◦ 0.00025 0.15 0.06 1224000 4 10◦ 0.00025 0.15 0.06 1296000 6 10◦ 0.00025 0.15 0.06 1728000 6 flowpassages. Two or four supply nozzles are considered for the investigated models. The disk diameter and thickness were assumed equal to 100mm and 0.5mm, respectively, whereas the interdisk space is equal to 0.25mm.Figure 4 presents a sample image of the calculation area for several turbinemodelswith two or four supply nozzles belonging to the second group of models. In accordance with the assumed turbulencemodel, the calculation grid at the disk wall was refined so as to obtain the y+ value equal to 1-5. Themesh was also refined in the inlet and outlet regions and in the region near the outlet from the nozzles, where the highest magnitudes of velocity occur. This is a structural mesh divided into blocks, which contains from up to 1296000 finite volumes (first group models) and up to 7500000 cells for the second groupmodel (so far one four-nozzle model was calculated). Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 483 Fig. 4. Full model design of a Tesla turbine 3. Flow model CFD calculations of various models of Tesla disk turbines were carried out on the basis of the RANS model (Wilcox, 1993) supplemented by the k−ω SST(Menter et al., 2003) turbulencemodel available in the computer program Fluent (Fluent Inc., 2000). Numerical discretisation of the set of fundamental equationswasperformed using the finite volume method. The ”segregated” solver with the sequential solving of the governing equations aswell as the SIMPLEalgorithm for correc- tion of pressure and velocity were applied. Discretisation of convection fluxes wasperformedusingan ”upwind” schemeof the 2ndorder accuracy.The time- domain discretisationwasmade by an ”implicit” scheme. All under-relaxation factors were lowered compared to their default values. The calculations we- re carried out until the stationary state was reached, lowering the residua of particular equations by 4 orders of magnitude (8 orders of magnitude for the energy residuum). Thermodynamic parameters assumed for CFD calculations were found from preliminary 1D model calculations, making use of the data from lite- rature sources. It is assumed that the considered Tesla turbinemodels consist of 11 rotating disks (12 flow channels of the interdisk space). The nominal operating conditions are for themass flow rate of 0.13kg/s and pressure drop from 14.8bar to 1.9bar. It is important that in each case the nozzles were designed to get exactly the same value of mass flow rate at the nominal point of work. Solkatherm ROSES36S was assumed to be the working medium. The perfect gasmodel was chosen for the calculations, assuming the individual gas constant and specific heat as average values from the given expansion range. Values of dynamic viscosity and the heat conductivity coefficient were assu- 484 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski med in a similar way. Pressure boundary conditions relevant for compressible flow were assumed. However, it should be noted that the perfect gas model assumed for the calculations may be a poor approximation of working me- dium properties, especially for flow velocities close to the sonic velocity. The calculations were carried out for a range of operating conditions (by changing the available pressure drop from2bar to the nominal value) for two rotational speeds of the rotor, namely: 9000rpm and 18000rpm, giving two different work characteristics of each microturbine model. The flow efficiency of the 11-disk turbinewas calculated from the following formula ξ= P Pis = P GHis = Mω GHis (3.1) where: ξ is the isentropic efficiency, P – power generated by the 11-disk tur- bine, Pis – theoretical power in isentropic conversion, M – moment of force generated on 11 disks, ω – angular speed of the disk, G – mass flow rate in the 11-disk turbine (12 interdisk gaps), His – isentropic enthalpy drop. The isentropic drop of enthalpy can be found from the perfect gas appro- ximation as His = cPTin [ 1− (pex pin ) κ−1 κ ] (3.2) where: cp is the specific heat, Tin – inlet temperature, pin – inlet static pres- sure, pex – outlet static pressure, κ – ratio of specific heats. In the case of simplified Tesla turbine models (group 1) Eq. (3.4) can be rewritten as ξ= P Pis = 11P ′ 12G′His = 22M ′ω 12G′His (3.3) where: P ′ is the power generated from a single disk, G′ – mass flow rate for the single interdisk space, M ′ –moment of force generated on one side of the disk. The turbine reaction is calculated here as the ratio of static pressure drop in the interdisk space related to the pressure drop in the turbine and shows which part of expansion takes place within the rotor domain ρ= p1−pex pin−pex (3.4) where: ρ is degree of reaction, p1 – static pressure at the nozzle outlet. Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 485 4. Analysis of numerical results 4.1. Simple model analysis Figures 5 and 6 show contours of static pressure and velocity for sample con- figurations of Tesla turbine models of disk diameter 100mm with four, six and eight supply nozzles. The images were captured at the symmetry plane of the interdisk space for two rotational velocities of the disk for nominal opera- ting conditions (for the mass flow rate of the 11-disk turbine – 0.13kg/s and Fig. 5. Contours of static pressure at nominal load, plane of symmetry; four, six and eight nozzle supply, disk diameter 100mm, inlet angle 10◦; (a) 18000rpm, (b) 9000rpm 486 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski Fig. 6. Contours of velocity magnitude at nominal load, plane of symmetry; four, six or eight supply nozzles, disk diameter 100mm, inlet angle 10◦; (a) 18000rpm, (b) 9000rpm pressure drop from 14.9bar to 1.89bar). It results from the pressure contours that a part of the available pressure drop is accomplished in the nozzle, the other part takes place in the interdisk space, i.e. in the rotor. Larger pressu- re drops within the nozzles occur at the rotational speed equal to 9000rpm. For this case, further expansion within the rotor leads to a pressure drop just behind the nozzles below the exit value (0.35bar below the operating condi- tions of 1.89bar). For the rotational speed of 18000rpm, the lowest value of static pressure is localized at the outlet and the pressure is never lower than the operating pressure. Larger pressure drops along the nozzles for the case of Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 487 Fig. 7. Pathlines distinguished by the velocity magnitude at nominal load, disk diameter 100mm, inlet angle 10◦; (a) 18000rpm, (b) 9000rpm Fig. 8. Degree of reaction, output power and isentropic efficiency of the 11-disk turbine as a function of the flow rate. Diagrams for four, six and eight supply nozzles, disk diameter 100mm, inlet angle 10◦ 488 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski rotational speed of 9000rpm translates onto higher velocities of the working mediumat the outlet from the nozzles and at the inlet to the rotor. It reaches 280m/s then,whereas at the rotational speed of 18,000rpm it does not exceed 240m/s (at the nominal load condition for the Tesla model with four supply nozzles). Some distance downstream of the nozzles, high gradients of pressure and velocity occur and the configurations of isolines characteristic for the occur- rence of shock waves are observed.When a shock wave occurs, an increase of pressure and a decrease of flow velocity takes place. The compression within the shock wave is not desirable in classical bladed turbines. It is a source of losses in the flow. Streamline patterns for the four-nozzle model (of disk diameter 100mm) and two rotational speeds of the rotor for the nominal load conditions are presented in Fig.7. The streamlines are distinguished by the velocity magni- tude. Fluid elements move along spiral pathlines from the outer radius to the outlet at the inner radius of the disk. The shape of the pathlines chan- ges with operating conditions (pressure drop in the turbine), rotational speed and the number of supply nozzles. Sample pathlines presented for the case of four nozzle supply are slightly deformed. They are flattened around the nozzle-outlet (rotor-inlet) region due to the influence of flow streams coming out from the nozzles. Fluid elements make up to a few rotations within the interdisk space before they reach the outlet section. For the higher rotational speed of 18000rpm where the flow velocity magnitude is lower, it is shown that the spiral pathlines are longer and fluid elements can do 2 revolutions in the space between the rotating disks. 1.25 revolutions are performed for the case of 9000rpm.This is consistentwith the theory and results of experiments presented in the literature (Praast, 1993). When the turbine is spinning fa- ster, the flow path is longer (and the time of presence of fluid elements in the interdisk region is longer) than in the case when the disks are rotating with a lower velocity. The centrifugal forces increase then. Consequently, the fluid is forced to travel by longer paths and the transfer of energy can be done with a higher efficiency. Finally, the knowledge of the shape of pathlines within the interdisk space can be helpful in better designing of the Tesla turbine disks. Another conclusion is that in order to reach a high efficiency, the Tesla turbinemust have a considerable degree of reaction. The results of the analysed cases are presented in Fig. 8 as work charac- teristics, showingmain parameters of work like the degree of reaction, output power and isentropic efficiency as a function of mass flow rate. The diagrams concern the models with the disk diameter of 100mm and inlet angle 10◦, Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 489 rotating with two rotational velocities. The nominal load conditions are for the pressure drop from 14.8bar to 1.89bar and flow rate of 0.13kg/s. The characteristics show much better conditions (higher flow efficiencies and out- put power) for the case of 18000rpm. The diagram of the degree of reaction shows its increasewith the increasing rotational velocity andnumber of supply nozzles. There is amuch lower degree of reaction for the case of 9000rpmdue to a higher pressure drop in the nozzle region then. The flow patterns observed within the interdisk space as well as the di- stribution of reaction are decisive for the obtained output power and isentro- pic efficiency of the investigated Tesla turbinemodels. The calculated output power tends to increase with the increasing rotational velocity, however the maximum values of the output power are achieved for the configuration with 4 nozzles, then decreasing with the increasing number of supply nozzles. For 18000rpm the output power of the 11-disk turbine reaches 1306W for the no- minal load, while the model working with 9000rpm gives only 837W, which is about 35% lower (the case of 4 nozzle supply, inlet angle 10◦, disk diameter 100mm). The obtained output power depends on the flow efficiency that is reached in the models. For the rotational speed of 18000rpm, the isentropic efficiency along the entire pressure drop characteristic decreases from 43% to 30% at the nominal load, whereas for 9000rpm decreases from 37% to 19% only at the nominal load (the case of 4 nozzle supply). Besides, the models with the inlet angle of 10◦, also models with a 15◦ inlet angle were analysed. It was found that the increased slope angle of the supply nozzles causes a small decrease in the efficiency and output power of the Tesla turbine model. Depending on the number of supply nozzles and rotational speed, the modification of the inlet angle from 10◦ to 15◦ causes a 6% to 8% drop of the output power and isentropic efficiency. These values are given for the nominal load andmass flow rate about 0.13kg/s. The degree of reaction exhibits another trend. In all analysed cases, it is higher in the models with the inlet angle 15◦ by 3% to 6%, all calculated for the nominal load. For the investigated models of disk diameter 100mm, the output power and isentropic efficiency are the highest for the case of 4-nozzle supply. This was also a conclusion of investigations carried out for paper (Lampart et al., 2009) where Tesla models supplied from 1, 2 and 4 nozzles were considered. Thus, vapour supply from 4 nozzles seems to be a very effective way of the Tesla turbine supply. 490 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski The numerical results that are presented below are concernedwithmodels of a large disk diameter equal to 300mm. Models supplied from 2, 4 and 6 nozzles were considered. The analysis was done for the same operating con- ditions as before, for the same working medium and the same pressure drop from 14.8bar to 1.89bar at the nominal point of work. For this large disk dia- meter, only the rotational speed of 9000rpmwas considered. Figures 9 and 10 show sample contours of static pressure and velocity magnitude obtained for Fig. 9. Contours of static pressure; 2 supply nozzles, disk diameter 300mm, inlet angle 10◦; rotational speed 9000rpm Fig. 10. Contours of velocitymagnitude; 2 supply nozzles, disk diameter 300mm, inlet angle 10◦; rotational speed 9000rpm a model supplied from two nozzles. The pictures were captured at the sym- metry plane of the interdisk space for the maximum value of flow rate and pressure drop (nominal operating conditions). More less 50% of the available pressure drop is accomplished in the nozzles. The remaining pressure drop ta- kes place between the rotating disks. The enclosed contours of static pressure and velocity exhibit characteristic features that were observed for the smaller Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 491 models. There is a zone of large pressure drop and expansion just downstream of the nozzles followed by the shockwave region.Within the shockwave, fluid elements slow down. Downstream they accelerate again under further pressu- re decrease conditions, then slow down again due to friction effects. After a half revolution, fluid particles are entrained by the inlet stream and are again subject to shock wave conditions occurring downstream of the next nozzle. This cycle will repeat several times along the whole spiral path until the fluid elements reach the outlet, which can also be observed from Fig.11 showing the shape of pathlines for a 2-nozzle model of diameter 300mm. As compa- red to the situation observed for the models with a 100mm diameter where fluid elements were able tomake from 1.25 revolutions for 9000rpm to about 2 revolutions for 18000rpmbefore they have reached the outlet, in themodel with a diameter of 300mm the fluid elements performmore revolutions along their pathlines. The number of revolutions for the presented 2-nozzle model is between 5 and 6. As a consequence of the above, the time of passage of fluid elements within the interdisk space is longer than for the smaller models and the kinetic energy of flow can be transferred to the disks with a higher efficiency. Fig. 11. Pathlines coloured by velocitymagnitude; 2 supply nozzles, disk diameter 300mm, inlet angle 10◦; rotational speed 9000rpm Short work characteristics in the form of diagrams of reaction, output power and isentropic efficiency as a function of the mass flow rate for the models with the disk diameter of 300mmare presented in Fig.12. The degree of reaction exhibits a similar trend to that observed for the smaller models, however the range of change seems to be wider. The reaction decreases with the increasing mass flow rate. Its maximum value is equal to 0.9 and occurs for the lowest investigated pressure drop. It decreases to 0.24 (two nozzles), 0.26 (four nozzles) and 0.27 (six nozzles), all for the nominal load. The values 492 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski of output power are much higher than for the investigated smaller models at the same level of the mass flow rate. For the nominal load, the output power reaches 2235W for the case of two nozzle supply, 2140W for four nozzles and 2080W for six nozzles model. For the investigated models, the increase in the number of supplynozzles gives rise to a small increase of the degree of reaction and a small decrease of the output power for higher values of the flow rate, including the nominal conditions of 0.13kg/s. Fig. 12.Work characteristics for the model with a disk diameter 300mm as a function of flow rate; the system supplied from two, four and six nozzles The trends observed in the efficiency diagram for large Tesla turbine mo- dels (two, four and six nozzle configurations) are different than those found for previously analysed models of disk diameter 100mm. Here, the isentropic efficiency tends to increase with the increasing value of themass flow rate and ”saturate” near the nominal operating conditions. Themaximumobtained va- Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 493 lues of efficiency are much higher than for the smaller models. The isentropic efficiency for the nominal turbine load is equal to 51% for the 2-nozzle mo- del, 48% for the 4-nozzle model and 47% for the 6-nozzle model. This is to confirm our earlier predictions that the increased number of revolutions that fluid elements performwithin the interdisk space and longer pathlines of fluid elements in large diametermodels enablemore efficient transfer of power from the flow to the disk. All the received values of efficiency for different models of disk diameter 100mm and 300mm are gathered in Table 2. Table 2.Efficiency comparison for all calculated models (at nominal load) Nozzle Diameter 18000rpm 9000rpm configuration of the disk 4 nozzles, 10◦ 100mm 30% 19% 4 nozzles, 15◦ 100mm 28% 18% 6 nozzles, 10◦ 100mm 28% 18% 6 nozzles, 15◦ 100mm 26% 17% 8 nozzles, 10◦ 100mm 24% 16% 8 nozzles, 15◦ 100mm 23% 16% 2 nozzles, 10◦ 300mm – 51% 4 nozzles, 10◦ 300mm – 48% 6 nozzles, 10◦ 300mm – 47% 5. Full model analysis Besides the simplified models of Tesla turbines, also a full model of an 11- disk turbine working on a low boiling medium SES36 was prepared. A half of the real 11-disk turbine was calculated under the assumption of symmetry of the construction. The disks are located in the casing. There are radial gaps above the disks. The outlet from the turbine is accomplished through four holes situated in each disk (save for the central disk) near the shaft. These holes allow the outflow of themedium in the axial direction. Let us recall that in the simplified model, the working fluid was assumed to outflow directly to the shaft. Under the symmetry conditions, the medium leaves the turbine to the left and right, so there are no axial forces acting on the shaft and bearings. The turbinemodel is supplied from four nozzles and the inlet angle is assumed equal to 10◦, as in the investigations of the simplified models. The interdisk 494 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski space is still the same, 0.25mm. The fact that the clearances above the disks are not ignored is a considerable modelling improvement over the simplified models, allowing the leakage over thedisks tobe taken into account.Thewhole model contains above 7.5 million finite volumes. The same set of pressure drops up to the highest drop (from 14.8bar to 1.89bar) was used as a boundary condition. The image presented in Fig.13 shows the static pressure in the symmetry plane in one interdisk space for the Fig. 13. Full model calculations. Contours of static pressure in the symmetry plane between the disks inlet pressure of 8bar. The expansion along the nozzles is weaker than in the case of the simplifiedmodel investigated earlier. The pressure drop realised in the interdisk spaces is larger which suggests a higher value of reaction. The distribution of static pressure between the disks presented in Fig.14 shows an Fig. 14. Full model calculations. Change of static pressure in the neighbouring disks asymmetric character. Thepressurebetween the disks inside the turbine, close to the central disk (without holes) is higher than that between the side disks, near the casing. Subsequent disks are not uniformly loaded. The investigated Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 495 model assumes the same area of the outlet holes in each disk. Thus, the outlet holes in side disks exhibit higher values of mass flow rate, coming also from the preceding interdisk domains. Arranging the individual size of the outlet holes in each disk can lead to a more uniform loading of the disks. Fig. 15. Full model calculations. Distribution of the velocitymagnitude in the symmetry plane between the disks Static pressure contours in Fig.13 and also velocity contours presented in Fig.15 show the occurrence of shock waves within the interdisk space. Si- milar to the situation observed for the simplified models, the fluid elements pass through shock wave zones several times along their pathlines within the interdisk space. Fig. 16. Full model calculations. Pathlines distinguished by the velocitymagnitude in the symmetry plane between the disks The analysis of pathlines presented in Fig.16 shows some similarities to the simple models. The working medium flows along spiral pathlines from the nozzle outlets (at the outer radius) to the outlet holes (near the inner radius). The number of revolutions done by fluid elements is smaller than in the corresponding simplified models, with the disk diameter of 100mm. For 496 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski 18000rpm it is notmore than 1.5 revolutions before reaching the outlet holes, whereas in the simplifiedmodels, with the disk diameter of 10cm, it was 1.25 for 9000rpmand around 2 for 18000rpm.The number of revolutions done by thefluid elements in the intedisk space strongly affects theflowefficiency of the Tesla turbine. The highest isentropic efficiency values were found in situations where the time of presence of the working fluid between the disks was the longest. As a consequences, the flow efficiency of the full model geometry is relatively low. It amounts to 16% only at the nominal point of work (mass flow rate of 0.13kg/s), which is almost by half less than the value of isentropic efficiency obtained for the simplified model (found there as 30% for the case of 4 nozzle supply). Figures 13-16 also exhibit the presence of strong swirls in the zone of outlet holeswhich add to a low efficiency of themodel. In this region, the direction of flow changes rapidly from spiral in the radial plane to axial. The outlet holes are spinning together with the disks and this is another reason for formation of eddies at the outlet from theTesla turbine. It is also important to note that the zone of the lowest pressure is located not in the outlet holes but between the outlet holes. The presented full model geometry is in an early stage of development and several improvements must be implemented. First of all, the diameter of the outlet holes must vary with disk location in the turbine to obtain the same pressure drop and value of flow rate in all interdisk spaces. Also the location of the supply nozzles at the disk circumference should be synchronised well with the location of the outlet holes. This is not an easy task, however tracing the shape of the fluid elements pathlines in the interdisk spacemaybehelpful.Also to better understandall theflowphenomena taking place in the Tesla turbine, full unsteady calculations must be performed. 6. Summary Results of analysis presented in thispaper showauniquecharacter of operation of theTesla bladeless turbine.Different types ofmodels divided into twomain groups were analysed, including a group of simplified models and a group of full geometry models. Within the first group of models, only a half of a single interdisk space was transformed into the calculation domain, assuming the symmetry of flow between the disks, and assuming an infinite number of disks. The outlet from the interdisk space was realised directly to the shaft. Turbine models differed in disk diameter (100 and 300mm), rotational speed (9000 and 18000rpm) and nozzle configuration. The models were supplied Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 497 from four, six and eight nozzles located along the circumference for two inlet angles (10◦ and 15◦). Models of the second group were prepared without the simplifications assumed for the first group ofmodels.The outlet from interdisk channels was performed through the several outlet holes in disks located near the shaft. The radial gap above the disks was also taken into consideration. In this group, the inlet angle of 10◦ and the disk diameter of 100mm was assumed. All the analysedmodelswere assumed to operate on a lowboilingmedium, SolkathermSES36 in an organic Clausius-Rankine cycle. The nominal point of work was designed at 0.13kg/s of the mass flow rate of the working fluid (overheated steam of low boiling medium) and pressure drop from 14.8bar to 1.89bar. The number of co-rotating disks was assumed as 11. The calculations exhibit interesting features of transonic flow in the high- loadTesla turbine.Fluid elements pass through shockwave zones several times along their pathlines within the interdisk space. For simplemodelswith a small diameter of the disks (100mm), the highest value of isentropic efficiency was achieved in the model supplied from four nozzles for the inlet angle of 10◦ and rotational velocity of 18000rpm. It reached 30% for the nominal load, giving 1300Wof the output power. It was found that a further increase of the number of nozzles has an adverse impact on flow efficiency. Since in the previous analysis of one, two and four nozzle models themaximumefficiencywas also found for the four nozzle arrangement (Lampart et al., 2009), the four-nozzle supply systemseems to be the optimum configuration for the investigated model. A change of the inlet angle from 10◦ to 15◦ gives a small efficiency decrease for the model turbine. The rotational speedof thedisks also seems to be avery important factor, if talking about the outputpowerandflowefficiency. Ithasan influenceon the shapeof streamlines and the total time of presence of fluid elements between the disks. A higher efficiencywas observed at the higher rotational speed of 18000rpm,where the pathlines were by about 50% longer than those in the case of 9000rpm. The efficiency value of 30% obtained for the investigated 100mmmodel is still not satisfying for the Tesla turbine to be competitive as compared with classical bladed turbines. In order to improve the flow efficiency, models with the disk diameter of 300mm were also investigated, showing some improve- ments in the shape of streamlines and flow efficiency. The best results were obtained for the model with two nozzles, 10◦ inlet angle and 9000rpm. The calculated flow efficiency reached over 50% at the nominal load (for the sa- me mass flow rate as for 100mm models) as fluid elements perform up to 6 revolutions before reaching the outlet. 498 P. Lampart, Ł. Jędrzejewski The numerical analysis of the full 100mmmodel yields at themoment the isentropic efficiency of 16% only at the nominal load, which is much smaller than for the simplifiedmodel. This is because in the tested models, there is a non-uniform loading of the subsequent disks. Pathlines of the fluid elements within the interdisk spaces are relatively short and there are strong eddies in the outlet holes zone. Several improvements, including variation of the area of outlet holes from disk to disk and synchronisation of the supply nozzles with the location of the outlet holes are needed to considerably improve the flow efficiency of the models. Acknowledgements The calculations of the full Tesla turbinemodel presented in this paper have been done on the Galera supercomputer of the TASK Centre. References 1. BeansW.E., 1966, Investigation into the performance characteristics of a fric- tion turbine, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 3, 1, 131-134 2. Davydov A.B., Sherstyuk A.N., 1980, Experimental research on a disc microturbine,Russian Engineering Journal, 8 3. Fluent Inc., 2000,Fluent/UNS/Rampant, ”User’s Guide” 4. Fluent Inc., 2000,Gambit. ”User’s Guide” 5. GruberE.L., 1960,An Investigation of a Turbine with aMultiple Disc Rotor, Thesis, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 6. Hicks K., 2005, Method of and apparatus for a multi-stage boundary layer engine and process cell, United States Patent US 6,973,792B2, Dec. 13 7. Kosowski K., 2007, Steam and Gas Turbines with Examples of Alstom Tech- nology, 2nd edition, Alstom Power Sp. z o.o. 8. Lampart P., Kosowski K., Piwowarski M., Jędrzejewski Ł., 2009, De- signanalysis of aTeslamicro-turbineoperatingona low-boilingmedium,Polish Maritime Research, Sp. Issue No. 1, 28-33 9. Menter F.R., Kuntz M., Langtry R., 2003, Ten years of industrial expe- riencewith the SST turbulencemodel,Turbulence, Heat andMass Transfer, 4, Begell House, Inc. 10. Mikielewicz J., Kosowski K., Lampart P., Piwowarski M., Bykuć S., 2008, Analiza możliwości zastosowania turbiny Tesli w mikrosiłowni z czynni- kiem niskowrzącym, The Szewalski Institute of Fluid-FlowMachinery, Gdańsk Investigations of aerodynamics of Tesla bladeless microturbines 499 11. North R.C., 1969,An Investigation of the Tesla Turbine, Thesis, University of Maryland 12. Praast T.D., 1993, Theory and plans for the Tesla turbine, TMMI 1315 Pepper Drive, 7, El Cajon CA 92021-1425 13. Rice W., 1965, An analytical and experimental investigation of multiple-disk turbines, Journal of Engineering for Power, Trans. ASME, 29-36 14. RiceW., 1991,Tesla turbomachinery,Conference Proceedings of the 4th Inter- national Tesla Symposium, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 117-125 15. Tesla N., 1913, Turbine, Patent no: 1,061,206., United States Patent Office, of NewYork N. Y., PatentedMay 6 16. Wilcox D.C., 1993, Turbulence Modelling for CFD, 2ed., DCW Industries, Inc., La Canada, CA Badania aerodynamiki bezłopatkowych mikroturbin typu Tesli Streszczenie W pracy przedstawiono analizę bezłopatkowej turbiny tarczowej Tesli pracującej w organicznymobieguRankine’a z czynnikiemniskowrzącymwmikrosiłowni kogene- racyjnej o mocy cieplnej 20kW.Wykonano obliczenia numeryczne przepływuw tur- binie Tesli w szerokim zakresie zmienności parametrów pracy turbiny.Wyniki badań obrazują szereg ciekawych cechw rozkładzie parametrówprzepływuw przestrzeniach międzytarczowych turbiny. Sprawność turbinyTesli zależy odwielu parametrówprze- pływowych, takich jak ciśnienie, temperatura, prędkość czynnika, prędkość obrotowa wirnika, oraz od wielu parametrów geometrycznych, m.in. od liczby i średnicy tarcz, odległości między tarczami, stanu powierzchni tarcz oraz układu dysz zasilających. Obliczone sprawnościmodeli turbinyTesli wskazują, że najlepsze rozwiązania tej tur- binymogą konkurować z klasycznymi turbinami łopatkowymi. Manuscript received September 13, 2010; accepted for print November 25, 2010