Applications, Advantages and Limitations of Pitot Tubes

The pitot tube is used in utility streams where high accuracy is not necessary. It is used in the air duct and pipe system. It is used in aircraft to measure air flow velocity. They are used for mapping flow profile in a channel or duct.

Advantages and Disadvantages of pitot tubes

Advantages

• Economical to install
• Do not contain moving parts; this minimizes the frictional loss.
• Easy to install. Due to its small size, It can introduce to fluid flow without shutting down the flow.
• Loss of pressure is very small.
• Can be easily installed in extreme environment, high temperature and pressure conditions
• Some types can also be easily removed from the pipeline.

- Combined pitot tube (Prandtl Tube) and Double tip pitot tube
- Difference between pitot tube and Pitot-static tube

Disadvantages/limitation of pitot tubes

• Low sensitivity and Poor accuracy. It requires high-velocity flow.
• Not suitable for dirty or sticky fluid like sewage disposal.
• Sensitivity disturbed by flow direction
• Pitot tubes have found limited applications in industries because they can easily become clogged with foreign materials in the liquid.
• There is no standardization for pitot tube
• Change in velocity profile may cause significant errors. Due to change in velocity profile, it develops a very low differential pressure which is difficult to measure.