Introduction

A Radome is a rigid, weatherproof structural enclosure that protects a microwave or radar antenna against the natures forces; at the same time it should not be a hindrance to the electromagnetic waves propagating to and from the radar antenna. The word radome is a portmanteau of radar and dome. Therefore it is very important to select a suitable material to design a radome as the electromagnetic operation is pivotal to the performance of the antenna and the chosen material should minimally attenuate with signal transmission of the radar, but then again the material needs to be strong enough to bear other factors which may physically damage the radar. Radars are themselves capable of various operations and house various electronic equipment which contribute to its optimum functioning. However all radars are prone to environmental factors and this may take a toll on its performance if not well equipped to confront the forces of nature such as rain, wind, snow, ultra-violet radiation, corrosion. Hence radomes are required to protect the radars so that the longevity of the radars is

assured with no dip in its performance. Radomes can be constructed in several shapes depending upon the particular application using various construction materials (fiberglass, PTFE-coated fabric, etc.). When used on UAVs or other aircraft, in addition to such protection, the radome also streamlines the antenna system, thus reducing drag.

K. Rohwer, S. Friedrichs, C. Wehmeyer analyzed Laminated Structures from FibreReinforced Composite Material. In the literature there are tremendous number of models and methods for analyzing laminated structures. With respect to the assumptions across the laminate thickness, theories with various mathematical functions are to be distinguished from layerwise approaches, whereas for the latter the functional degrees of freedom can be dependent or independent of the number of layers.

Vincent Manet has used different models to compute displacements and stresses of a simply supported sandwich beam subjected to a uniform pressure. 8-node quadrilateral elements (Plane 82), multi-layered 8-node quadrilateral shell elements (Shell 91) and multi-layered 20node cubic elements (Solid 46) are used. The influences of mesh refinement and of the ratio of Youngs moduli of the layers are studied. Finally, a local Reissner method is presented and assessed, which permits an improvement in the accuracy of interface stresses for a high ratio of Young's moduli of the layers with Plane 82 elements.

Steven R. Nutt, H. Shen, and Lev Vaikhanskiys work at USC has focused on strategies to enhance the toughness and overall mechanical performance of polymer foams for use in lightweight sandwich structures. Both mechanical and chemical approaches have been employed with reasonable success. Fiber reinforcement, though difficult from a processing perspective, can lead to substantial enhancements in toughness and strength, while reducing friability. Chemical modifications are also challenging from a processing perspective, but can produce similar enhancements in performance. Efforts to enhance performance of phenolic foam and PVC foam through fiber reinforcement and chemical modification are described, along with the resulting enhancements in performance.

P. Davies, P. Chauchot, B. Bigourdan conducted case studies on a wide sandwich beam loaded under uniform pressure. First, results from different analytical methods and finite element codes are compared. Then test results are presented for a glass/epoxy facing-PVC foam core sandwich panel. Finally predicted strains and out-of-plane displacements are correlated with experimental results.

Boualem Keskes1, Yves Menger, Ahmed Abbadi, Joseph Gilgert, Nourredine Bouaouadja and Zitouni Azari worked on a fatigue characterization of honeycomb sandwich panels with defects. In real situations, these panels can be affected by manufacturing defects and impacts, and it is important to know the effects of these defects and the behaviors of the damaged panel; it also important to determine the location of the defect. In the investigation these defects were be simulated by a blind hole in the centre of the lower face sheet. Static and fatigue tests (four-point bending) with acoustic-emission monitoring were carried out on sandwich panels with defects. The load/displacement and the S-N fatigue curves are presented and analyzed.

A. T. Nettles, D.G Lance and A. J. Hodge worked on, An Examination of Impact damage in Glass/Phenolic and Aluminum Honeycomb Core Composite Panels. They compared two different core materials in different experimental conditions, then finally concluded that

for a given impact energy, the face sheet on the aluminum core samples demonstrated more delaminations than the glass/phenolic core. Both glass/phenolic and aluminum core specimens displayed core buckling as the first damage mode, followed by de-laminations in the lacings, matrix cracking, core cracking (fiber the glass/phenolic samples), and finally fiber breakage in the facings.

Nomenclature
1. Specific Strength, - is a material's strength (force per unit area at failure) divided by its density. 2. Specific Modulus, - is defined as the elastic modulus per mass density of a material. 3. Density, - density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. 4. Dielectric Constant, d - reflects the extent to which it concentrates electrostatic lines of flux. 5. Loss Tangent, tan - is a parameter of a dielectric material that quantifies its inherent dissipation of electromagnetic energy.

Criteria for material selection

Low dielectric constant and loss tangent value for constituents are the key design requirements since the transmission of electromagnetic energy is important. Reinforcements here are typically E-Glass (Borosilicate), S-Glass (Mg/Al Silicate), Aramid (Polyp-phenylene-terephthamide), Quartz (Silica) etc. All the parameters stated above are tabulated for different reinforcing materials. This will help us select favourable constituent materials in the construction of sandwich model, required for the Radome Analysis. The most preferred constituent is selected based on low di-electric constant and low loss tangent value but high mechanical strength; corresponding to the higher values of specific modulus and specific strength. But at the same time it is important to select a material based on the ease of availability, manufacturing technology, fabrication at economic costs. So another table constituting cost/kg of the materials is available, it should lead us to the selection of a suitable material with optimum performance considering the above requisite parameters.

The values for Dielectric constant and Loss tangent for different constituent materials are tabulated below. Materials Dielectric Constant,d Loss Tangent

Fibres
E-Glass S-Glass Aramid Quartz Silicon Carbide 7 4.53-4.6 4 3.78 4.5 0.006 0.004 0.019 0.00015 0.002

Resins
Cynate Ester Polyimide Epoxy Polybutadiene 2.7-3.25 3.5 3.8-4.5 2.5-2.6 0.004-0.005 0.02 0.032 0.005

The values of Mechanical properties for different constituent materials are tabulated below. Material Fibres E-Glass S-Glass Aramid Quartz Silicon Carbide Resins Cyanate Ester Polyimide Epoxy Polybutadiene Density (Kgm-3) 2540 2480 1440 2650 3210 1250 1430 1850 907 Elastic Modulus (GPa) 76-79 88-91 62-179 88-91 76-78 3.1-3.2 3-9 10.5 17-20 Elastic Strength (MPa) 3100-3800 4400 3600-4900 3400 3100-3800 70-90 38-120 85 310-340

Observing all the properties above, we can see that E-Glass for very cheap cost serves as the best fibre in terms of good mechanical strength and has a less value of loss tangent. Similarly Epoxy matrix can be chosen as a suitable material for the construction of Radome. Laminas are made of E-Glass-Epoxy; the properties of the lamina are given below: Mechanical Properties for E-Glass-Epoxy Pre-preg Serial No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Property Youngs Modulus, Ex N/mm-2 Youngs Modulus, EyN/mm-2 Poissons Ratio Shear Modulus, Gxy N/mm-2 Tensile Strength, N/mm-2 Compressive Strength, N/mm-2 Shear Strength, N/mm-2 Value 21700 20600 0.13 2845 415 415 42

The properties of Rohacell are given below: Mechanical Properties for Rohacell 51 WF Serial No 1 2 3 4 5 Property Youngs Modulus, N/mm-2 Density, Kg/m-3 Tensile Strength, N/mm-2 Compressive Strength, N/mm-2 Shear Strength, N/mm-2 Value 75 52 1.6 0.8 0.8

Detailed Design of Radome

CAD Model
Based on the specifications and requirements the SATCOM Radome is conceptualized as below in order to fully cater to the requirement of a Satellite Communication Antenna. The size of SATCOM Radome is 2702 mm X 703 mm X 563mm.
Orthographic and Isometric views of the SATCOM Radome

The material construction for sandwich portion is as follows: Skin: Three layers of E-Glass pre-pregs on either side of core. Core: Rohacell Foam (PMI)-51WF of 5 mm thick. The stiffness to the Sandwich portion is provided by the layers of E-Glass on both sides of the Rohacell Core, whereas the core maintains a good permittivity for the signal transmission by the Antenna which the radome protects.

The material construction for monolithic portion is as follows: Eighteen layers of E-Glass pre-pregs.

Construction
Construction drawing of the radome

The shaded portion in the above diagram shows the sandwich portion of the radome, the unshaded area represents the monolithic part. Aluminum alloy strip of 0.8 mm thick and 40 mm width is bonded on the outer surface of the radome at the attachment region. The SATCOM radome will be fixed to the interface structure by 69 counter sunk bolts of stainless steel.

Pre-Processing
Pre-processing, as we know involves the preparation of data, such as nodal co-ordinates, connectivity, boundary conditions, loading conditions and material information. The purpose of mesh generation is to generate element connectivity data and nodal co-ordinate data by reading other input data to the mesh. It is the most time consuming process in the whole of analysis since it involves optimizing and verification of several parameters before doing the processing of the given geometry.

The following operations are performed in the pre-processing of radome. Firstly the CAD geometry is imported and repaired to remove errors if any. Then meshing of the geometry surface is done. The meshed area is optimized for Quality Index .Loads and boundary constraints are applied. Material constants are assigned before creating the Pre-preg Layers. The files are saved for Processing/Solving. Meshed Radome

Boundary conditions A Node is created at the centre of each attachment hole. This node is connected the circumferential nodes of the holes using RBE3 element. The centre node of all holes is constrained in all degrees of freedom. Boundary Constraint

Loading SATCOM radome is analysed for Limit and Ultimate load cases. Using the Loads presented below structural analysis of the SATCOM structure will be performed. The radome is divided into 32 sections to apply the pressure as provided in the report. The positive pressure values act from outside towards inside the radome and negative pressures act in the opposite direction corresponding to suction.

Pressure distribution for positive limit Load

Pressure distribution for negative limit Load

Result Summary
When the Limit load is positive the deflection undergone is 6.317

. Fig: Deflection plot for limit load (positive pressure) When the Limit load is positive the strain undergone is 0.002

Fig: Strain plot for limit load (positive pressure)

When the Limit load is positive the value of Tsai Wu Index of 0.044

Fig: Tsai Wu index plot for limit load (positive pressure) When the Limit load is negative the deflection undergone is 13.988

Deflection plot for limit load (negative pressure)

When the Limit load is negative the strain undergone is 0.002

Fig: Strain plot for limit load (negative pressure)

When the Limit load is negative the value of Tsai Wu Index is 0.136.

Fig: Tsai Wu index plot for limit load (negative pressure)