Electromagnetic and mechanical properties of CORC cable due to screening current

Abstract

Abstract With the development of type II high temperature superconducting (HTS) ReBCO tape, it has been widely used in high field magnets. Conductor on round core (CORC) cable is highly flexible and fully isotropic, making it one of the most important types of HTS cables. In the condition of high field and current, the electromagnetic and mechanical behaviors of CORC cable under screening current effect are not clear. In this paper, the behaviors of CORC cable under high field and current are studied for the first time by combining electromagnetic and mechanical simulation. A three-dimensional shell model and a three-dimensional solid element model of single-layer CORC cable are established by finite element software to study the electromagnetic and mechanical properties of CORC cable, respectively. Compared with the case without taking screening current into account, two current loops are induced within a pitch of the CORC cable due to the screening current, and the magnetic field homogeneity is significantly reduced. Meanwhile, two pairs of shear force are generated at the current loops meeting zones, it results in a certain degree of stress concentration. Fortunately, because the copper core provides stable mechanical support for the HTS tape, there is no significant difference of the maximum stress between two cases with and without screening current in the CORC cable.