Calculation of AC losses in HTS tape with FEA program ANSYS

The commercially available finite element analysis program ANSYS, primarily designed for solving problems for ferromagnetic materials and conventional conductors, has been used for simulating the ac losses in HTS tape carrying transport current or exposed to a perpendicular field. Details on how to develop the program as a calculation tool for HTS materials are presented; in particular some factors related to the numerical accuracy and efficiency are discussed. The approach is based on a 2D electromagnetic transient analysis, where the conductivity of the HTS material is simulated in terms of a power law. The commonly used flux creep model and Bean model can be realized by adjusting the power law index value from 2 to ∞. For the Bean model, the simulated results are verified by comparison with the analytical formulas given by Norris, which shows the error to be less than 0.5%. For the flux creep model, the accuracy is estimated by comparison with Brandt´s method for a basic cylinder geometry, showing a good agreement.