Superconductor Stability Revisited: Impacts from Coupled Conductive and Thermal Radiative Transfer in the Solid

Abstract

Standard stability calculations following the Stekly, adiabatic or dynamic stability models apply purely solid thermal conduction mechanism, derive predictions under (quasi-) stationary and adiabatic conditions and assume ideal (mostly centrosymmetric) location of disturbances. Instead, the present paper takes into account also thermal radiative heat transfer in the superconducting solid, pool boiling, and considers the impact of random location and intensity of disturbances on the stability problem. The analysis is based on interplay between Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations and a rigorous Finite Element method to calculate the resulting transient temperature field and stability functions. The combined Monte Carlo/Finite Element method is applied to 1G filament and 2G thin-film-coated high temperature superconductors. Results are strongly different from solutions achieved with standard, solely solid conduction thermal transport. It is not realistic, even in thin films, to assume uniform conductor temperature under transient disturbances. This may have significant consequences for design and simulation of performance of superconducting fault current limiters. There are doubts whether superconducting fault current limiters under any operation conditions could work in either pure flux flow or Ohmic resistive states.