A Pitot tube is a measuring instrument used to measure fluid flow. The Pitot tube is named after its inventor, Henri Pitot, and was modified to its modern form by Henry Darcy.
Pitot tube
The basic instrument consists of two coaxial tubes: the interior tube is open to the flow, whilst the exterior tube is open at ninety degrees to the flow. A manometer can be used to meassure the difference between these two pressures and using Bernoulli's equation the flow rate of the fluid can be calculated.
Pitot tubes on aircraft
Pitot tubes are used on aircraft to measure the craft's airspeed. The tube is parallel to the aircraft's longitudinal axis, and is typically mounted on the wing of small aircraft and on a pylon on the body of larger aircraft. On aircraft, static pressure is typically measured through a port on the side of the fuselage instead of on the pitot tube itself. Most pitot tubes have a heating device to prevent freezing and ice build up.
Often, the multi-port averaging Pitot tube is an appropriate and economic choice as the primary element for measuring liquids, gases or steam.
The Pitot tube is a “square root device,” meaning the square root of the DP is proportional to the flow rate.
Among the reasons for this are percent blockage of the probe in the pipe and shedding vortices that cause a suctioning effect at the downstream static pressure ports, producing a larger measured DP than the theoretically predicted value.
A Pitot (pronounced pē-tó) tube is a measuring instrument used to measure fluid flow velocity, and more specifically, used to determine airspeed on aircraft.
The Pitot tube is named after its inventor, Henri Pitot, and was modified to its modern form by Henry Darcy.
Pitot tubes on aircraft commonly have heating elements to prevent the tube from becoming clogged with ice.
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