Modeling of Vibration and Drift Behaviors Triggered by Environmental Factors in a Superconducting Maglev with Thermal-Electromagnetic Interaction

Abstract

During the operation of a high-temperature superconducting maglev system, external factors, such as crosswind, rain and earthquake, will cause some changes in the levitation and guidance forces and even an undesirable modification of the levitation point. The dynamic behavior is, thus, essential for the maglev and must be well understood. According to Newton’s second law, the thermal diffusion equation, Maxwell’s equations and a nonlinear power-law constitutive relation, a 2D thermal-electromagnetic coupling model is built to study the dynamics of an actual superconducting maglev under environmental loads. It is assumed that after a zero-field-cooled bulk superconductor slowly descends to a working height above a permanent-magnet guideway, its dynamic motion will be triggered by external disturbance or excitation. The influences of the amplitude and frequency of periodic external disturbance exerted on the guideway, and the magnitude and direction of external excitation applied on the superconductor on the vibration characteristics, including the drift phenomenon occurring in both vertical and lateral directions and temperature evolution, are fully analyzed. Moreover, the resonance phenomenon induced by these external factors is predicted, tending to aggravate the local temperature rise and levitation drift.