Field and current distributions and ac losses in superconducting strips

In this paper I discuss analytic and numerical calculations of the magnetic-field and sheet-current distributions in superconducting strips of width 2a and arbitrary thickness 2b at the center when the cross section is an ellipse, a rectangle, and a shape intermediate between these limits. Using critical-state theory, I use several methods to determine the functional dependence of the ac transport-current losses upon F = I/Ic, where I is the peak alternating current and Ic is the critical current, and I discuss how this dependence can be affected by the cross-sectional shape, aspect ratio, and a flux-density-dependent critical current density Jc(B).