Analysis of normal zone propagation in pancake-shaped Nb/sub 3/Sn superconducting magnet

A quench phenomenon is caused by an external disturbance in a superconducting magnet, where the magnet is operating in a cryogenic environment. The heat coupling between the layers and pancakes of the magnet can induce the normal zone propagation with fast speed, in order to analyze quench behavior in a pancake-shaped superconducting magnet, a quasi-three-dimensional model is proposed. A moving mesh finite volume method is employed in solving the heat conduction equation. The quench process of the superconducting magnet is studied under the various operating conditions and cooling conditions.