Hybrid Electrical/Mechanical Optimization Technique Using Time-Domain Modeling, Finite Element Method and Statistical Tools for Composite Smart Structures

The successful use of a design of experiments (DOE) and response surface methods (RSM) approaches in a simultaneous electrical and mechanical optimization study for a load-bearing antenna structure is presented. The benchmarking geometry is a stacked patch antenna integrated in a sandwich structure made of composite laminates and Nomex honeycomb. The antenna is electromagnetically modeled in time domain and it is found that, for the chosen geometry, the honeycomb structure improves the gain of the antenna without affecting the bandwidth. The structure is then optimized using the same experiment that integrates both the electrical and mechanical (calculated with finite elements) parameters of the system. The simple factorial design is very simple to implement and gives a clear understanding of the system behavior, including the interaction between the mechanical changes and electrical performance thus allowing the engineer to integrate, for the first time, both the electrical and mechanical features of the system in the same optimization technique