The LHC test string: results from Run 2

After the commissioning and the first powering of the main circuits in autumn 2001 in its shorter version, the facility was completed to a full cell of LHC in the regular part of an arc and commissioned in July 2002. During this second run, which accumulated more than 4000 hours below 2 K, a very dense experimental program was carried-out to validate the final versions of the technical systems and design choices such as the bus-bar cables running along the magnet cold masses inside the cryostats. The program included the investigation of thermo-hydraulics of quenches, quench propagation, power converter controls and tracking between power converters. The cryogenic process dynamics were studied in length; predictive control techniques were tested and their performance assessed. During a short shutdown starting in December 2002, the facility was stripped of all instrumentation contributing to increased heat loads and heat load measurements will be performed in a last run during the first half of 2003. The paper describes the facility and details the results obtained during the experimental program.