Shielding and losses in multifilamentary tapes exposed to perpendicular AC magnetic fields

In multifilamentary high-T/sub c/ tapes for energy transportation, a component of magnetic field is applied normally to the filament surfaces. Since the thickness of any filament of the tape is much smaller than the width (the factor is usually between 10 and 20), it results in large field amplification on the tape surface and consequently a large loss. This problem is studied in detail here, analysing the behavior of Bi 2223/Ag tapes with different structures of the filamentary zone. Experimental data are compared with calculations based on finite element codes. The importance of filament arrangement for AC losses is illustrated.