Winding-Pack Quench Simulation of Stellarator Coils: Hydraulic Field-Network Coupling and Transverse Heat Conduction in OPENSC${}^2$

Abstract

Quench propagation in cable-in-conduit conductors is thermo-hydraulically driven, yet existing 1D models treat a conductor as one straight adiabatic cable with prescribed pressure and mass-flow boundaries, so secondary quenches and flow redistribution between windings cannot be resolved. We extend the open-source code OPENSC${}^2$ with transverse heat conduction between turns, a 3D field resolving the current-sharing temperature, induced losses, and a lumped hydraulic network coupled to the conductors by a mass-flow formulation. Validated against the 2006 W7-X coil tests, it predicts the quench site, cuts the outlet-temperature error from 55 K to 12 K, and reproduces the neighboring windings' heating as flow reversal through the coil inlet.

arXiv comment31 pages, 24 figures, 2 tables. Submitted for publication in Superconductor Science and Technology