A finite-element analysis of critical-state models for type-II superconductivity in 3D

^** Email: c.m.elliott{at}sussex.ac.uk^*** Corresponding author. Email: y.kashima{at}sussex.ac.uk We consider the numerical analysis of evolution variationalinequalities which are derived from Maxwell's equations coupledwith a nonlinear constitutive relation between the electricfield and the current density and governing the magnetic fieldaround a type-II bulk superconductor located in 3D space. Thenonlinear Ohm's law is formulated using the subdifferentialof a convex energy so the theory is applied to the Bean critical-statemodel, a power law model and an extended Bean critical-statemodel. The magnetic field in the nonconducting region is expressedas a gradient of a magnetic scalar potential in order to handlethe curl-free constraint. The variational inequalities are discretizedin time implicitly and in space by Nédélec's curl-conformingfinite element of lowest order. The nonsmooth energies are smoothedwith a regularization parameter so that the fully discrete problemis a system of nonlinear algebraic equations at each time step.We prove various convergence results. Some numerical simulationsunder a uniform external magnetic field are presented.