The Tesla turbine, a bladeless turbine invented by Nikola Tesla, operates on the principle of fluid's viscous effects, achieving high efficiency at high speeds but facing challenges due to material limitations and engineering constraints.

The Tesla turbine, favored by Nikola Tesla, boasted a simple yet efficient design surpassing steam turbines in efficiency. By leveraging the viscous force between fluid and solid surfaces, the turbine's spiral fluid flow pattern maximizes energy extraction during high-speed operations.

The chapter discusses the concept of boundary layer thickness in fluid dynamics, where fluid particles near a surface form a stationary layer resisting the flow of adjacent particles due to viscosity. Nikola Tesla's innovative approach of adding parallel disks to utilize the boundary layer phenomenon for increased turbine efficiency is highlighted.

Nikola Tesla faced challenges with his turbine design when trying to increase torque by adding more disks, leading to material failure at high speeds. Despite being easy to construct, Tesla turbines are not widely used in power generation due to the engineering impossibility of operating large diameter discs at the required high speeds for optimal efficiency.