Laboratory Practices with the Wilson Plot Method

The Wilson plot method is a well-known tool used in practical applications and research activities that involve the analysis of different heat exchanger devices. Therefore, it is of interest to researchers and engineers working on heat transfer and related fields. Moreover, the application of this method is simple enough to be taught in laboratory practices with students. Taking into account the reasons cited above, a simple experimental apparatus has been designed and built at our laboratory. In this article, the calculation procedure to apply the Wilson plot method is explained and characteristic experimental results for a smooth tube and a spirally corrugated tube are reported. Moreover, the experimental results are compared with different correlations proposed in the literature.