Investigation on Mechanical Damage of No-Insulation REBCO Pancake Coil by Multi-Physics Quench Simulation

A no-insulation (NI) winding technique greatly improves the thermal stability of REBa
₂
Cu
₃
O
_x
(RE = Rare Earth; REBCO) pancake coils. Since it has recently been pointed out that strong electromagnetic forces due to induced currents cause mechanical damage to NI REBCO coils during quench propagation under high magnetic field. The mechanical stability must be investigated and discussed further. We have developed a multi-physics quench simulation for NI REBCO pancake coils by combining a 2D stress/strain finite element analysis (FEA) with an electromagnetic field analysis of partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method and a 2D thermal FEA. The simulation results showed the consistency with the experimental results.