This invention presents a Pitot tube design and methodology for determining the flow characteristics of fluids in subsonic and supersonic flow, including the effects of viscosity and turbulence. A new methodology, the Two-Fluid Theory, is developed which treats a real fluid as being composed of two ideal fluids: an inviscid fluid and a Poiseuille fluid. The resulting expression for flow velocity is applicable to a real fluid of any viscosity and to pipes of any L/D ratios, including entrance effects.
Two designs, comprising annular, smooth-bore tubes, with devices for measuring total and static pressures, are presented: one for incompressible flow; one for compressible, supersonic flow. Allowance is made for the viscous component of the flow to become fully developed, in accordance with the Theory.