Three-dimensional electromagnetic analysis of cable-in-conduit conductors for fusion applications

In this paper, we simulate the electromagnetic behavior of ITER cable-in-conduit conductors (CICCs) using a three-dimensional integral formulation of magneto-quasistatic Maxwell's equations, where the superconductors are represented by a power-law. The model is suitably coupled to external feeding and measuring circuits, which allow the representation of the voltage measurements usually performed using voltage taps. The resulting integral equation is solved with a finite element method, making use of suitable linear combination of edge elements shape functions to expand the unknown current density. The model is applied to study the electromagnetic behavior of the resistive transition in the Poloidal Field Insert Sample.