Quench propagation properties analysis of high-temperature superconductors using finite element method

Quench propagation property is an important issue in stability of high-temperature superconductor for practical application. There are many factors inducing quench, such as external disturbance, operating temperature, transport current and magnetic field. Quench propagation velocity and minimum quench energy (MQE) are two important parameters to the stability and protection issues of superconducting magnet. This paper presents some analytical results about quench propagation properties of Bi-2223/Ag superconducting multifilament tape using finite element method (FEM). The results show that the temperature transition behaviors from superconducting-state to normal-state in the process of quench propagation can be conveniently simulated through establishing a suitable thermal analysis model. The simulation results of quench temperature–time traces of different location on Bi-2223/Ag superconducting tape are basically coincident with the former experimental results. These results are significant to the application of high-temperature superconductor.