A program for evaluating the effects of short circuits in coil systems

SHORTFORCE is a series of Fortran programs that was developed to facilitate failure-mode and protection analyses of multiple coil/multiple circuit magnetic systems. The package allows rapid turnaround of alternate fault scenarios with emphasis on graphics to allow model verification and display of output results. Some of the features of the package are illustrated and calculated results are compared with data available from an existing superconducting magnet system. The assumed location of the short in the coil allows estimation of the short resistance and the magnitude of the threshold power level for normal-zone initiation by comparing the numerical results with the time intervals determined from voltage measurements. The rate of change of the resistance for a propagating and recovering normal zone is postulated along with the value of heat generation for which recovery could begin. These assumptions lead to good qualitative and quantitative agreement with measured voltage data.