The CMS detector magnet presently under design for the future Large Hadron Collider at CERN is an epoxy-impregnated structure, indirectly cooled by two-phase flow liquid helium. This magnet, based on aluminum-stabilized, mechanically reinforced conductor, is not cryostable: the heat generated by a thermal disturbance can be removed only by thermal diffusivity through the windings. In order to study the thermal stability of the magnet, we have developed numerical codes able to predict the thermal behaviour of an anisotropic and non-homogeneous medium against thermal perturbations due to friction or epoxy cracking. Our 3D finite element codes can calculate the propagation or the recovery of a normal zone in a superconducting magnet, taking into account the current diffusion effect, which strongly affects the heat generated by a transition in the case of large Al-stabilized conductors. Two different codes, CASTEM 2000 and HEATING are described in this paper. We present the results of the CMS Solenoid magnet stability analysis related to the size and duration of the thermal disturbance, the thermal properties of the conductor and the initial temperature of the magnet. The minimal energy required to initiate a quench in the magnet is found to be around 1 joule for a 64 × 22 mm~2 reinforced conductor carrying a 20 kA current under a 4-tesla magnetic field.
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