Measured strain in Nb3Sn coils during excitation and quench

The strain in a high field Nb3Sn coil was measured during magnet assembly, cool-down, excitation and spot heater quenches. Strain was measured with a full bridge strain gauge mounted directly over the turns and impregnated with the coil. Two such coils were placed in a 'common coil' fashion capable of reaching 11 T at 4.2 K. The measured steady state strain in the coil is compared with results obtained using the FEM code ANSYS. During quenches, the transient strain (due to temperature rise) was also measured and compared with the calculated mechanical time response to a quench.