Numerical simulation for optical transmission of aero-optical dome

Since the shape and optical properties of a aero-optical dome change as the dome is subjected to aerodynamic heating, the optical transmission of the dome is affected. A finite element analysis model of the dome was established to numerically compute its refractive index distribution based on the theories of thermo-optical and elastic-optical effects. The optical transmission of infrared radiation through the dome was numerically simulated using the ray tracing program based on the fourth order Runge-Kutta algorithm. Two kinds of imaging quality evaluation parameters were presented, wave aberration of the exit pupil and MTF. The research results show that the thermo-optical effect has a much greater influence on optical transmission through the dome compared with the elasto-optical effect and the imaging quality of the dome is seriously affected due to aerodynamic heating. Therefore, the effect exerted by aerodynamic heating on the optical transmission of the dome can not be neglected for improving the guidance precision of missles .