Modelling of superconducting screens for a new form of magnetic suspension

In a new form of magnetic suspension, known as the "Mixed Mu System", the forces on iron are stabilised using the diamagnetic properties of super-conducting screens. This paper is concerned with the mathematical modelling of such screens. Using a finite-difference approximation to the currents and field distributions in the screen, an iterative Fortran program is written to give convergent solutions in which the current distribution does not exceed the critical value. Computed results are included for various stacks at various values of transverse field and are compared with typical experimental results. It is shown that the method presents a reasonable approximation to static performance.