Impact pressure


In compressible fluid dynamics, impact pressure is the difference between total pressure and static pressure. In aerodynamics notation, this quantity is denoted as ' or '.
When input to an airspeed indicator, impact pressure is used to provide a calibrated airspeed reading. An air data computer with inputs of pitot and static pressures is able to provide a Mach number and, if static temperature is known, true airspeed.
Some authors in the field of compressible flows use the term dynamic pressure or compressible dynamic pressure instead of impact pressure.

Isentropic flow

In isentropic flow the ratio of total pressure to static pressure is given by:
where:
is total pressure
is static pressure
is the ratio of specific heats

is the freestream Mach number
Taking to be 1.4, and since
Expressing the incompressible dynamic pressure as and expanding by the binomial series gives:
where:
is dynamic pressure