Reliability and sensitivity analysis of honeycomb sandwich composite radome structure

Radome is an important structural component for protecting an aircraft′s radar antenna and is usually located in the nose part of the aircraft. A method for evaluating the reliability and sensitivity of a honeycomb sandwich composite radome structure subjected to wind loads during operation is developed in this paper. A finite element model of the radome structure is established, and the static strength and modal analysis are carried out. With uncertainty factors taken into account, the reliability model of the radome structure is established, and its failure probability and global sensitivity indexes are calculated with the neural network′s surrogate model and the Monte Carlo method. Then the failure probability and global sensitivity indexes based on the failure probability are compared in different threshold cases. The safety level of the composite radome structure is clarified after reliability analysis. Key variables that have large influences on structural response are obtained after global sensitivity analysis, providing some guidance for the optimal design of a composite radome structure.