A novel method for calculating broadband electrical performance of high-speed aircraft radome under thermo-mechanical-electrical coupling

Abstract

The electrical performance of radomes on high-speed aircraft can be influenced by the thermal and mechanical loads produced during high-speed flight, which can affect the detection distance and accuracy of the guidance system. This paper presents a new method that uses the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method to calculate the electrical performance of radomes under Thermo-Mechanical-Electrical (TME) coupling. This method can accurately characterize the effects of material dielectric temperature drift and structural deformation on the electrical performance of the radome under flight conditions, enabling high-precision full-wave calculations of the broadband electrical performance of the radome. The method initiates by utilizing a Finite Element Grid Model (FE-GM) of the radome to sequentially acquire the radome’s response temperature field and structural deformation field through thermal and mechanical simulations. Subsequently, spatial mapping techniques are developed to accurately incorporate the dielectric temperature drift and structural deformation of the radome into its Yee grid Electromagnetic (EM) simulation model. A verification case was designed to test the proposed method, and the results confirmed its high computational accuracy. Additionally, the effectiveness and necessity of the method were further demonstrated by analyzing the electrical performance of a fused silica ceramic radome used on a high-speed aircraft.