ME 226 Mechanical Measurements

Course Project: An in-depth study of the

working of a pitot static tube system
DEVANG THAKKAR
13d100007
Introduction:
A pitot static tube is a pressure measurement instrument, the most common application of
which is to measure fluid flow velocity based on the Bernoulli principle when the direction
of the fluid flow is known a priori. Invented by the French engineer Henri Pitot in the
early 18th century, the pitot tube has undergone several modifications before it ended up
looking as it does now.

Fig. (1) A representative diagram of a pitot static tube system measuring fluid pressure.

A simplistic pitot tube can be constructed using a right angled glass tube, large enough for
capillary effects to be negligible, with one end of the tube facing the flow while the other
end is left open to the atmosphere as shown. There are two orifices near the end that is
inserted into the water. The pitot static tube works on the principle of the differences in
static pressure and stagnation pressure. In front of the tube, according to Bernoullis
equation along a streamline, the pressure is extremely high since the velocity is negligible
this pressure is called the stagnation pressure. To define, the stagnation pressure at a point
in a fluid flow is the pressure which could result if the fluid were brought to rest
isentropically. Downstream of the first orifice, there is another orifice which measures the
static pressure at the point. The stagnation pressure comprises of two parts a static
pressure head and a velocity head. Hence, in order to calculate the velocity, the difference
between stagnation and static pressures at that point is considered.

Assuming ideal conditions, applying Bernoullis we get the velocity as:

Eq. (1)

Sources of error:
The above result is obtained assuming idealized conditions; however in practical
conditions, there are many errors that need to be accounted to. A few of them are listed
below:
1) Finite Yaw and Pitch angles due to misalignment of tube axis and velocity
vector: If the fluid stream is not parallel to the probe head, errors occur in both
total and static readings. These are the most important errors in this type of an
instrument because they cannot be corrected without taking independent readings
with another type of probe. The misalignment may lead to non-zero yaw
(horizontal) or pitch (vertical) angles which need to be corrected using a 3-hole
wedge probe.

Fig. (2) A representative diagram describing the yaw and pitch angles.

2) Non-zero Tube Diameter: The streamlines adjacent to the tube are longer than
those found in an undisturbed flow due to an increase in the velocity and are
accompanied by a decrease in the static pressure. A similar effect would occur if
the tube were inserted in a duct whose cross sectional area is not significantly
larger than the pitot tube.
3) Wall Boundary Effects: The measurement of static pressure is sensitive to the
distance from physical boundaries. The pitot probe and the wall boundary form a
venturi passage, which leads to the acceleration of the flow, thereby causing a
decrease in the static pressure on one side.
4) Turbulence Errors: Pitot-Static tubes are apparently insensitive to turbulence and
under some conditions of high intensity turbulence the angle of attack at a probe is
spread over a large range. The probe, therefore, has an error corresponding to the
yaw or pitch angle produced by the turbulence.

5) Viscosity Effects: Eq. (1) assumes the liquid to be frictionless, whereas in reality, at
sufficiently low Reynolds number, the viscosity of the fluid exerts a noticeable
additional force at the stagnation hole causing the stagnation pressure to be higher
than predicted. Also when a pitot tube is inserted in a compressible fluid, the
equation is valid only if the Mach number is sufficiently low.

Dynamic Response to Impulse Pressure Input:

The derivation has been appended in the hand written pages since typing out symbols
would be really time-consuming. The following assumptions have been made while
calculating the dynamic response of the pitot static tube:

The fluid is assumed to be incompressible and the total length of the fluid column
remains fixed at L.

The probe is assumed to initially be in the equilibrium position.

The pressure difference p (Pstag Pstatic) is suddenly applied across it.

The fluid column will move during time t > 0.

RESULT:

Fig. (3)
References:

IIT Delhi Lectures on Measurement Systems by P M V Subbarao

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitot_tube
Measurement Systems by E Doebelin
www.engineeringtoolbox.com