Electromagnetic modelling of superconductors with a smooth current–voltage relation: variational principle and coils from a few turns to large magnets

Many large-scale applications require electromagnetic modelling with extensive numerical computations, such as magnets or three-dimensional (3D) objects like transposed conductors or motors and generators. Therefore, it is necessary to develop computationally time-efficient but still accurate numerical methods. This article develops a general variational formalism for any E(J) relation and applies it to model coated-conductor coils containing up to thousands of turns, taking magnetization currents fully into account. The variational principle, valid for any 3D situation, restricts the computations to the sample volume, reducing the computation time. However, no additional magnetic materials interacting with the superconductor are taken directly into account. Regarding the coil modelling, we use a power law E(J) relation with magnetic field-dependent critical current density, J_c, and power law exponent, n. We test the numerical model by comparing the results to analytical formulas for thin strips and experiments for stacks of pancake coils, finding a very good agreement. Afterwards, we model a magnet-size coil of 4000 turns (stack of 20 pancake coils of 200 turns each). We found that the ac loss is mainly due to magnetization currents. We also found that for an n exponent of 20, the magnetization currents are greatly suppressed after 1 h relaxation. In addition, in coated conductor coils magnetization currents have an important impact on the generated magnetic field; which should be taken into account for magnet design. In conclusion, the presented numerical method fulfills the requirements for electromagnetic design of coated conductor windings. (paper)