The selection of sandwich panels most often takes place at the design stage. It is the designer who has to analyse all the parameters of the designed building in terms of thermal insulation, fire resistance, corrosion resistance and acoustic insulation. This is done on the basis of current Polish regulations. It goes without saying that the parameters related to the strength of the panels must also be taken into account.

Industrial halls made of sandwich panels with an expected internal temperature above 16° must have a U-value [W/m²K] of no more than 0.20 for the walls and no more than 0.15 for the roof. Today, the vast majority of buildings being built meet these conditions. In order to achieve this parameter, the thickness of the sandwich panel must be appropriately selected depending on the infill.

As can be seen in the table above, PIR-filled panels have the best thermal insulation performance and are most commonly used. Panels with a polystyrene core are used less and less frequently, as it is an outdated technology. In addition, insurance companies are reluctant to insure such halls due to the flammability of polystyrene foam.

A special category of sandwich panel halls are cold storage facilities. These facilities are designed to maintain a constant temperature of -28°C inside. Here, panels with a PIR core of 200mm or more are mainly used. The better the thermal insulation of these facilities, the lower the subsequent energy expenditure.

In terms of fire resistance, sandwich panels with a mineral wool core have by far the best performance. In order to achieve a fire insulation rating of EI60 or higher, such panels must be used. Panels with a PIR core can have an EI15 or a maximum of EI30.

When installing sandwich panel halls, it is sometimes necessary to combine PIR and MWF panels in one hall. This is due to the fact that EI60 is required for part of the building and not for the rest. In this case, boards with a wool core are used only where this parameter must be met, and boards with a PIR core are used for the rest of the building, which are cheaper and have better thermal insulation. EPS core boards are the worst in terms of flammability and, as mentioned earlier, insurance companies are increasingly reluctant to insure such buildings.

There are industrial halls that struggle with high noise emissions. In this case, as well as for enclosing very noisy process lines or parts of halls where noise is present, sandwich panels with a MWF core are used. The mineral wool filling provides the best acoustic insulation.

Some of the sandwich panel halls have to respond to an increased risk of an aggressive corrosive environment. This applies to facilities located close to the sea coastline, as well as to specific activities. Electroplating plants, steel mills and even livestock facilities must take into account the selection of suitable sandwich panel facings. The standard sheet materials used have a corrosion resistance of RC3. For more corrosively aggressive environments, cladding with a thicker paint coating must be used.