NUMERICAL STUDY ON ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BEHAVIORS OF CORC SUPERCONDUCTOR CABLES

This study focuses on the winding and forming of Conductor on Round Core (CORC) superconducting cables, aiming to establish a finite element numerical model based on shell elements utilizing the Abaqus software platform. Through the comparison and validation with experimental results, an in-depth investigation was conducted into the axial strain within the superconducting layer of Rare Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) superconducting tapes and its impact on the critical current, considering various cable winding parameters, including core diameter, winding angle, tape width, and stabilizer thickness. The findings reveal that the cumulative strain in superconducting tapes results from the combined effects of complex deformations, including tension, compression, bending, and torsion. Specifically, the compressive strain in the superconducting layer increases as the core diameter decreases, with tapes featuring thicker substrates exhibiting a larger critical core diameter. As the tape width increases, the extreme value of compressive strain in the superconducting layer initially rises and then decreases, with significant degradation of the critical current observed when the tape width is less than 2 mm. The study provides curves illustrating the variation of critical current with stabilizer thickness and identifies the stabilizer thickness corresponding to significant current degradation. Additionally, the optimal winding angles for SCS2030 tapes and SCS4050 tapes are found to be 45° and 50°, respectively, with more significant degradation of the critical current occurring within a range below the extreme point.