Quasi-3-D spectral wavelet method for a thermal quench simulation

Abstract

Abstract The finite element method is widely used in simulations of various fields. However, when considering domains whose extent differs strongly in different spatial directions a finite element simulation becomes computationally very expensive due to the large number of degrees of freedom. An example of such a domain are the cables inside of the magnets of particle accelerators. For translationally invariant domains, this work proposes a quasi-3-D method. Thereby, a 2-D finite element method with a nodal basis in the cross-section is combined with a spectral method with a wavelet basis in the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, a spectral method with a wavelet basis and an adaptive and time-dependent resolution is presented. All methods are verified. As an example the hot-spot propagation due to a quench in Rutherford cables is simulated successfully.

Keywords

• Finite element methods
• Hybrid discretizations
• Spectral element methods
• Wavelets
• Quenches