Cooldown stresses on the coldmass of SSC dipole magnets

Cooldown rate is one of the critical factors determining the availability of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) ring, because of its large size. It is pointed out that considerable time savings is possible with different cooldown scenarios which generate large temperature gradients on the magnets. An attempt was made to understand the stresses generated due to the largest possible temperature gradients that can be supplied by the cryogenic system and to predict the relation between the cooling rate and the coil stresses. Under the assumptions made in this study, it is found that maximum coil stress is independent of cooling rate. This result is in contradiction with the general belief, and more investigation needs to be done before reaching a definite conclusion.<>