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It is well known that twisting current-carrying conductors helps to reduce their coupling losses. However, the impact of twisting on self-field hysteresis losses has not been as extensively investigated as that on the reduction of coupling losses. This is mostly because the reduction of coupling losses has been an important issue to tackle in the past, and it is not possible to consider twisting within the classical two-dimensional (2D) approaches for the computation of self-field hysteresis losses. Recently, numerical codes considering the effect of twisting in continuous symmetries have appeared. For general three-dimensional (3D) simulations, one issue is that no robust, widely accepted and easy to obtain model for expressing the relationship between the current density and the electric field is available. On the other hand, we can consider that in these helicoidal structures currents flow only along the helicoidal trajectories. This approach allows one to use the scalar power-law for superconductor resistivity and makes the eddy current approach to a solution of a hysteresis loss problem feasible. In this paper we use the finite element method to solve the eddy current model in helicoidal structures in 2D domains utilizing the helicoidal symmetry. The developed tool uses the full 3D geometry but allows discretization which takes advantage of the helicoidal symmetry to reduce the computational domain to a 2D one. We utilize in this tool the non-linear power law for modelling the resistivity in the superconducting regions and study how the self-field losses are influenced by the twisting of a 10-filament wire. Additionally, in the case of high aspect ratio tapes, we compare the results computed with the new tool and a one-dimensional program based on the integral equation method and developed for simulating single layer power cables made of ReBCO coated conductors. Finally, we discuss modelling issues and present open questions related to helicoidal structures and AC-loss computations in three dimensions.

In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of an alternative design scheme to reduce the AC losses in high temperature superconducting (HTS) power transmission cables made of non-ferromagnetic HTS coated conductors. With this design, the adjacent tapes of each layer of the cable overlap each other up to a certain distance from their edges, typically 1 or 2 mm. Using two different numerical methods, an integral technique and a finite element method, we performed a parametric investigation of the idea of overlapping the tapes in the case of a single layer HTS power cable. Through the simulation results, we show that overlapping the tape leads to an important reduction in the AC losses of the cable (typically two to five times), mostly due to an advantageous redistribution of the current in the tapes.

A new numerical approach to find current distribution and AC losses in coaxial assembly of twisted HTS tapes in single layer arrangement Abstract. This paper presents a novel technique for evaluating AC losses and current distribution in single layer assemblies of coaxially wound thin conductors, such as YBCO coated conductors. The proposed approach takes into account the twisted geometry of the individual superconducting tapes by considering the integral relation between the magnetic vector potential and the current density in the tapes (Biot-Savart formula). The integrals are solved numerically and semi-analytically, and the results are used to generate a discretized system of equations based on the magnetic flux diffusion equation (eddy current problem). The latter is solved using an efficient time transient solver (DASPK). It is assumed that, due to the helical symmetry of the problem, it is sufficient to solve for the current distribution in half of a single tape crosssection, even if many tapes are present, which allows a drastic reduction of the 3-D problem to a simple 1-D domain. The method was used to evaluate the AC losses of a HTS cable made of coated conductors, and it was observed that for a given radius of the former and number of tapes, twisted tapes with smaller pitch have lower AC losses.