As is well known, the superconductor hysteresis loss modelling problem may be formulated as an eddy current (EC) problem in which the resistivity of the superconducting region is modelled with a power law. We compare three EC formulations suitable for the modelling of superconductor hysteresis losses. Namely, the a-v-j-, T-ϕand h-formulations are discussed. We review these formulations, and through simulation results the properties of these formulations are discussed and their suitabilities for different modelling situations are compared. Special attention is paid to the h-formulation: we investigate the effects of the modelling decisions related to resistivity of the air region in an h-formulation based EC solver. According to the results, these decisions affect the energy distribution of the field solution and may even lead to seemingly contradictory behaviour.
Many people these days employ only commercial finite element method (FEM) software when solving for the hysteresis losses of superconductors. Thus, the knowledge of a modeller is in the capability of using the black boxes of software efficiently. This has led to a relatively superficial examination of different formulations while the discussion stays mainly on the usage of the user interfaces of these programs. Also, if we stay only at the mercy of commercial software producers, we end up having less and less knowledge on the details of solvers. Then, it becomes more and more difficult to conceptually solve new kinds of problem. This may prevent us finding new kinds of method to solve old problems more efficiently, or finding a solution for a problem that was considered almost impossible earlier. In our earlier research, we presented the background of a co-tree gauged T -ϕ FEM solver for computing the hysteresis losses of superconductors. In this paper, we examine the feasibility of FEM and eddy current vector potential formulation in the same problem.
Due to the rapid development of personal computers from the beginning of the 1990s, it has become a reality to simulate current penetration, and thus hysteresis losses, in superconductors with other than very simple one-dimensional (1D) Bean model computations or Norris formulae. Even though these older approaches are still usable, they do not consider, for example, multifilamentary conductors, local critical current dependency on magnetic field or varying n-values. Currently, many numerical methods employing different formulations are available. The problem of hysteresis losses can be scrutinized via an eddy current formulation of the classical theory of electromagnetism. The difficulty of the problem lies in the non-linear resistivity of the superconducting region. The steep transition between the superconducting and the normal states often causes convergence problems for the most common finite element method based programs. The integration methods suffer from full system matrices and, thus, restrict the number of elements to a few thousands at most. The so-called T − ϕ formulation and the use of edge elements, or more precisely Whitney 1-forms, within the finite element method have proved to be a very suitable method for hysteresis loss simulations of different geometries. In this paper we consider making such finite element method software from first steps, employing differential geometry and forms.
Software systems designed to solve Maxwell's equations need abstractions that accurately explain what different kinds of electromagnetic problems really do have in common. Computational electromagnetics calls for higher level abstractions than what is typically needed in ordinary engineering problems. In this paper Maxwell's equations are described by exploiting basic concepts of set theory. Although our approach unavoidably increases the level of abstraction, it also simplifies the overall view making it easier to recognize a topological problem behind all boundary value problems modeling the electromagnetic phenomena. This enables us also to construct an algorithm which tackles the topological problem with basic tools of linear algebra.
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