Comparative study of the magnetic stiffness, levitation and guidance force properties of single and multi seeded YBCOs for different HTS–PMG arrangements

•Stiffness, levitation force and guidance force of YBCO were investigated.•Single and multi seeded YBCOs were used as HTS.•Stiffness and force values of multi seeded YBCO are bigger than single seeded one.•Superiority ratio of multi seeded YBCO is changed with cooling height.•Additional downward PMs enhance the stiffness and force performance of Maglev. It is crucial to improve the magnetic levitation, guidance and stiffness performances of the HTS Maglev systems for real-scale applications. In this study, the magnetic levitation force, guidance force and magnetic stiffness values were determined for single and multi-seeded YBCOs on different PMGs in ZFC regime and different cooling heights (CHs) after the magnetic flux distributions simulation of the using PMGs. Implemented study showed that the additional downward PMs make an enhancing contribution on the magnetic levitation force, guidance force and magnetic stiffness of both single and multi-seeded YBCOs. It was also determined that both the force and stiffness ratios of multi-seeded YBCO to single-seeded YBCO increase with increasing CH, indicating that the multi-seeded YBCO has much more interaction domain than single-seeded at higher gaps. It is considered that the results obtained in this study are very useful in technological applications of Maglev and bearing systems, because there is no detailed study on the magnetic stiffness, levitation and guidance force comparison to clarify electromagnetic behavior of single and multi-seeded YBCOs for different HTS–PMG arrangements.