Magnetic and thermal diffusion in pulsed high-field magnets

The coupled partial differential equations for magnetic and thermal diffusion are solved numerically on a personal computer. The evolution of the field and temperature profiles in each layer of the coil is calculated, taking into account the skin effect, magnetoresistance and heat conduction. This is then used to calculate the pulse shape of the capacitor discharge which energizes the coil. The calculated results are in good agreement with test results for a large range of different coils; this provides useful insight for optimized coil design.