Measuring Dynamic Pressure

Other Hardware Sensors
1

Hello All,

I am wondering if there is any practical way to measure dynamic pressure? The approach to take would probably be to measure the force imparted on the surface and manually dividing by area to find the pressure.

I am planning to use it for personal research on using arduino for an instrument panel in a home-built aircraft. This would be used to make an airspeed indicator. Aircraft airspeed is found by finding the difference between dynamic pressure (the pressure of the wind pushing back against the aircraft and per Newton's third law the forward pressure of the aircraft) as measured by a tube that is rammed with oncoming air, and static pressure (atmospheric air pressure) as measured by a static pressure port on the side of the aircraft. This difference is known as the impact pressure. Using Bernoulli's equation, the speed of the aircraft can be found with:
Impact Pressure = 1/2 * p *V^2
where p = air density and V = velocity.

2

I'd use a differential pressure sensor and let the two tubes point forward/backwards.

3

knut_ny:
I'd use a differential pressure sensor and let the two tubes point forward/backwards.

ACK, except for forward/aside.

I'm not an aircraft expert, but I think that the placement of the lateral outlet/sensor is important, because the lateral pressure is influenced by the shape of the aircraft. A detached sensor may be required, sitting in a straight pipe with constant lateral pressure (Prandtl device).

4

Google "pitot tube".