Quenching of high-T/sub c/-superconductors and current limitation numerical simulations and experiments

Numerical simulations of the combined thermal and electrical behavior have been carried out to study the influence of inhomogeneities along the HTSC length on the quenching behavior. A two-dimensional finite difference method (FDM) has been used to investigate the current-limiting performance of YBCO film with a critical current density around 10/sup 6/ A/cm/sup 2/ on a ceramic substrate, 1% of the length was assumed to have reduced critical current and temperature. The equalization properties of an additional thin conducting layer on the quench process has been demonstrated for varying degrees of inhomogeneity. Furthermore a sample of YBCO film was investigated experimentally and compared to calculated data. The results of the experiments show good agreement with the numerical simulations.