Optimal design of a superconducting MHD saddle magnet

A model for the optimum design of an MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) superconducting saddle-shaped magnet is described. The electromagnetic computations are performed by means of a computer code based on the integral approach. The optimization code is based on the solution of the nonlinear constrained optimization problem. The optimization procedure utilizes an objective function which can be a mixture of the minimum winding volume and the maximum field uniformity. The constraints are of both geometrical and electromagnetic type. The study is restricted to MHD magnets of rectangular shape. It is shown that the proposed model could produce saddle-shaped magnets which strictly satisfy the design requirements. The most suitable cost functional seems to be the minimum winding volume for the prototype-size magnet and the combination of minimum winding volume and maximum field uniformity for the demonstration-size magnet