The paper presents theoretical, experimental and numerical studies on the thermal behavior of mineral wool used in sandwich panels. The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal properties of mineral wool at elevated temperatures and provide a simple model that would allow us to determine the heat propagation in sandwich panels during a fire. The paper proposes a new method to experimentally evaluate thermal diffusivity, derived from theoretical premises. Experiments are conducted in a laboratory furnace where specimens are placed and temperatures inside specimens are measured. Different methods are used to process the test results and calculate the thermal diffusivity of mineral wool. Finally, a numerical analysis of heat transfer using the finite element method (FEM) is performed to validate the obtained thermal properties.
Keywords: heat transfer; mineral wool; sandwich panels; thermal behavior; thermal diffusivity.