Use of 2G HTS coated conductors in several power applications has become
popular in recent years. Their large current density under high magnetic fields
makes them suitable candidates for high power capacity applications such as
stacks, coils, magnets, cables and current leads. For this reason, modeling and
simulation of their electromagnetic properties is very desirable in the design
and optimization processes. For many applications, when symmetries allow it,
simple models consisting of 1D or 2D representations are well suited for
providing a satisfying description of the problem at hand. However, certain
designs such as racetrack coils and finite-length or non-straight stacks, do
pose a 3D problem that cannot be easily reduced to a 2D configuration. Full 3-D
models have been developed, but their use for simulating superconducting
devices is a very challenging task involving a large-scale computational
problem. In this work, we present a new method to simulate the electromagnetic
transient behavior of 2G HTS stacks and coils. The method, originally used to
model stacks of straight superconducting tapes or circular coils in 2D, is now
extended to 3D. The main idea is to construct an anisotropic bulklike
equivalent for the stack or coil, such that the geometrical layout of the
internal alternating structures of insulating, metallic, superconducting and
substrate layers is reduced while keeping the overall electromagnetic behavior
of the original device. Besides the aforementioned interest in modeling and
simulating 2G HTS coated conductors, this work gives a further step towards
efficient 3D modeling and simulation of superconducting devices for large scale
applications
