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Cooldown and Warmup Computer Simulations of the SSC Ring

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5616909
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, Dallas, TX (United States)

The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) consists of two stacked rings of superconducting magnets; each ring is about 86 km in circumference. The total mass to be cooled to liquid helium temperature amounts to about 1 x 108 kg, and the total helium inventory under nominal operating conditions (4.15 K and 4 atm) is about 2.8 x 105 kg. The cooldown and warmup process of a long string of magnets has to be well understood in order to design a cryogenic system that can satisfy the requirements of helium inventory handling, magnet temperature gradients, and process time for the different cooldown and warmup scenarios being planned for the SSC. A system that can be convincingly simulated can be understood, controlled, operated and improved in a systematic way. In this paper, we introduce two numerical models, a lumped model and a distributed model, for cooldown and warmup of the SSC ring, and present simulation results for an SSC string (4320 m long, or 1/20th of the full ring circumference). The models cover the temperature range between room and liquid helium temperature; the distributed model includes radial temperature distribution in the cold mass. Low temperature range simulations are particularly important to study inventory handling strategies because of the relationship between rapid changes in density and the system mass flow rate.

Research Organization:
Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, Dallas, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-89ER40486
OSTI ID:
5616909
Report Number(s):
SSCL--474; CONF-910505--371; CONF-910635--9; ON: DE91015278
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English