UKIFS (UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd) is a subsidiary of UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Group and has been established to lead a public-private partnership that will design, build and operate the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) prototype fusion energy plant by 2040.
A key aspect of STEP programme involves designing magnets using high-temperature superconductors (HTS), which are essential for creating a compact and efficient magnetic confinement system. This presents significant engineering challenges that demand advanced simulation capabilities to model the complex behavior of these superconductors.
Jiabin Yang, Moray Arbuckle, and Funke Dacosta-Salu, engineers in the STEP magnets team, are tackling these challenges with the help of Quanscient Allsolve. Their work focuses on developing intricate multiphysics simulations for the STEP toroidal field (TF) magnet and its fundamental component, the HTS cable.
These simulations incorporate a wide range of physical phenomena, including critical current prediction, AC losses, quench propagation, mechanical stress, and thermohydraulic flow of cryogenic fluids in cooling channels. The team also investigates the quench behavior of the entire TF magnet system under various operational scenarios.
Challenges in simulation before Quanscient Allsolve
Before adopting Quanscient Allsolve, the STEP magnets team faced several obstacles in their simulation and design processes.
Hardware limitations were a major concern, as the memory and processing power of their remote workstations proved insufficient for the demanding simulations required for their modelling work.
Furthermore, the team's efficiency was hindered by restrictive licensing agreements of commercial software, which often limited usage to a single user at a time.
Finally, the team found it challenging to perform cross-validation between different simulation tools due to a lack of accurate and specialized tools for HTS simulation.
These limitations highlighted the need for a more powerful and flexible simulation platform.
Discovering and adopting Quanscient Allsolve
STEP's journey with Quanscient Allsolve began with an introductory meeting where Jiabin Yang, leveraging his expertise in HTS modeling, recognized the potential of Allsolve's approach to simulation.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the software, he organized a product demonstration and a workshop for the STEP magnets team. He further explored Allsolve's capabilities by reading research papers published by Quanscient and examining demo videos.
A key factor that drew his attention was the alignment of Allsolve's research focus with STEP's specific needs, particularly in collaborative studies conducted with other players in the fusion energy sector.
The out-of-the-box availability of the H-phi formulation, tailored especially for HTS simulations, further solidified their decision to start adopting Quanscient Allsolve.
Initial impressions and first benefits
STEP's journey with Quanscient Allsolve began with an introductory meeting where Jiabin Yang, leveraging his expertise in HTS modeling, recognized the potential of Allsolve's approach to simulation.
As the STEP magnets team started their work with Quanscient Allsolve, they encountered the typical learning curve associated with any new software platform. However, they quickly recognized the inherent advantages Allsolve offered.
The ability for multiple team members to collaborate simultaneously on the same model, coupled with access to extensive and scalable hardware resources through Allsolve's cloud-based infrastructure, significantly improved their efficiency.
As they gained proficiency with the software, they quickly learned to leverage Allsolve’s scripting capabilities to automate tasks and introduce greater flexibility into their workflow.
Allsolve's impact on STEP TF coil quench simulations
One project where Allsolve made a significant impact was in the simulation of quench events in STEP’s partially insulated TF coils.
With dimensions reaching 20 m × 10 m, these coils are asymmetric due to the presence of joints, requiring full 3D Multiphysics modelling to accurately simulate quench behavior. Allsolve provided several key advantages for this challenging task:
- High-performance computing: The demanding computational requirements of these simulations were met by Allsolve's cloud-based hardware, offering access to terabytes of memory and massive parallel processing capabilities. This eliminated the limitations of local workstations and allowed for efficient simulation of large-scale models.
- Simplified model set-up with H-phi formulation: Allsolve's H-phi formulation streamlined the simulation setup by eliminating the need for introducing magnetic scalar potential discontinuities (thin cuts) manually via additional surfaces. In Allsolve, automatic thin cut generation makes the simulation model set-up and geometry meshing simple for the user. Furthermore, this approach enables precise simulation of leakage currents within the partial insulation of a complex TF coil.
- Direct access to the total voltage: The H-phi formulation also provided direct access to the total coil voltage in addition to the applied transport current. This is a crucial aspect for designing magnet protection systems.
Through these capabilities, Allsolve enabled UKAEA to rapidly iterate on their TF coil design, optimizing its performance and ensuring its safe operation under various quench scenarios.
Responsive customer support
Engineers in STEP have been consistently impressed with Quanscient's customer support.
The support team has been proactive and helpful from the start, scheduling regular meetings and providing prompt responses to questions. This high level of support has remained consistent, even with changes in support team personnel.
STEP particularly appreciates the team's expertise and responsiveness to their needs. When they encountered a time-consuming issue related to importing external mesh data, the support team quickly developed and implemented a new feature to streamline the process.
This commitment to addressing user feedback and continuously improving the platform has been a valuable aspect of their experience with Allsolve.
Recommendations and future plans
STEP magnet engineers recommend Allsolve to others in the field.
Its exceptional performance in simulating large-scale superconducting magnets, coupled with its ongoing development, makes Quanscient Allsolve a powerful tool for advanced high-temperature superconductor simulations for fusion energy.
Looking ahead, STEP envisions extending Allsolve's application to a broader range of fusion magnets and devices.