After the initial focus on the new invention in the beginning of 20th century, very little research went into understanding Tesla turbines until the revival of interest in the 1950s. With the development and availability of computing facilities people started working on using simulation studies to better understand the behavior of these machines. Many attempts have been made to commercialize these machines, but have found little success mainly owing to the small overall efficiencies due to considerable losses in the nozzles when used as turbines and the diffuser or volute when used as pumps.