3D-computation of a thermal process in a superconducting coil

This study deals with the resistive zone propagation in a superconducting coil during a quench, taking into account both the flux density distribution and the anisotropy of the thermal parameters. A Finite Difference Method is used to solve the heat diffusion equation and the flux density is calculated by means of a semi-analytical method. The 3-D model is suitable to describe the quench of thick coils and it can be applied to the study of thermal stability. As an application, a 10 kJ-solenoid is studied.