Numerical Simulation of the Mechanical Behavior of ITER Cable-In-Conduit Conductors

The unexpected degradations of current carrying capacity of Cable-In-Conduit Conductors are attributed to be mechanical in origin Nb3Sn. As a result, the prediction of conductor's performances asks for the assessment of the local strain state of the Nb3Sn superconducting strands inside cables. For this purpose, a finite element modeling, specially developed for the simulation of cable mechanics, is presented in this paper. The presented mechanical model allows simulating the conductors' service life from manufacturing to operating conditions by describing the evolution of strains and stresses within each individual strand. The distributions of axial strains within strands, obtained from simulation results of both thermal and Lorentz loadings, could help characterize the influence of design parameters.