ManicalEngineer

I'd like to address the two points above: The first one is not really true - Steam Turbines are designed to with stand loss of blade events (in other words if a blade breaks off its not exiting the turbine), the driving factor in most of the turbine shell/casing design is temperature/pressure not containment concerns (except in the low pressure sections where blades are as much as 60" long). Steam turbines also typically run at 3600 RPM (for 60 Hz applications) or 3000 RPM (50 Hz) applications, much slower (hence less danger) than the tesla turbines. The second point still rings true today, with new "modern" material the cost issue typically stems from the labor intensive process to include the materials (particularly composites). While materials have gotten better the high rotational speeds of the tesla turbine create chanenges for most materials due to high centrifugal forces. Those two points aside, I feel if there were as much focus on the development of Tesla turbines as there has been on the traditional bladed turbine it might see improvements, but without a clear & realistic estimation of that improvement companies won't invest in pursuing that. PS I'm a mechanical engineer that designs steam turbine shells