Discrete Differential Geometry Applied to the Coil-End Design of Superconducting Magnets

Coil-end design for superconducting accelerator magnets, based on the continuous strip theory of differential geometry, has been introduced by Cook in 1991. A similar method has later been coupled to numerical field calculation and used in an integrated design process for LHC magnets within the CERN field computation program ROXIE. In this paper we present a discrete analog on to the continuous theory of strips. Its inherent simplicity enhances the computational performance, while reproducing the accuracy of the continuous model. The method has been applied to the design of coil ends for the SIS300 dipole magnets of the FAIR project.