Due to the ability of transporting huge current in the stack of high-temperature superconducting conductors, the electromagnetic body force generated by the interaction of magnetic field and current may affect the mechanical stability of structure. In this paper, the fracture behavior of the stack of coated conductors which contains an interface crack is studied for increasing field and decreasing field. The body forces are obtained with variational formulation for the Bean’s critical state model. Based on the virtual crack closure technique (VCCT), the strain energy release rate of the stack of coated conductors with an interface crack is determined. The strain energy release rates are compared for different crack positions, crack lengths, magnetic fields and the thicknesses of substrate, respectively. These results may be useful for the practical application.
Part of the book: Fracture Mechanics