A Pitot tube faces directly into a uniform supersonic stream of dry air at and static…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Fluids & Continuum Physics · Waves, acoustics and compressible flow · Waves, acoustics and compressible flow
Signal Speeds in Fluids, Ch Oblique shocks, expansion fans and blast waves
Problem
A Pitot tube faces directly into a uniform supersonic stream of dry air at M1=2.2 and static pressure p1. A detached bow shock stands ahead of the probe mouth, normal on the stagnation streamline, so the flow crosses a normal shock before it is brought to rest isentropically inside the probe. Take γ=1.4.
((a)) Find the stagnation pressure p02 that the probe reads, as a multiple of p1.
((b)) Find the stagnation pressure the probe would read if (wrongly) the flow were assumed to stay isentropic all the way to M1=2.2, with no shock, and state which of the two is the correct reading.