Design and fabrication of the prototype superconducting quadrupole for the CERN LHC project

Within the framework of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) R&D program, CERN and CEA/Saclay have established a collaboration to carry out the design, building and testing of a superconducting LHC prototype quadrupole at the Saclay laboratory. The cold mass of this quadrupole is presently under construction at Saclay. The quadrupole design features a twin aperture configuration, a gradient of 250 T/m, a length of 3 m, and a free coil aperture of 56 mm. European industries participate in this project by delivering components and fabricating the tooling according to specifications prepared by Saclay. The authors present details of the magnet design and construction. Coil winding will start in summer 1991 and the first prototype should be assembled and ready for testing by mid 1992. >