Evaluation of influence of external magnetic disturbance on superconducting magnet taking conservation of linkage flux into account

External magnetic disturbance influences the quality of the image obtained with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system because it causes magnetic resonance frequency drift. When a superconducting magnet in persistent current mode operation is exposed to external magnetic disturbance coil current varies to keep linkage flux constant. Conventional analysis is usually formulated with constant current and does not provide correct evaluation of drift of magnetic field in the magnet. This paper proposes a method of numerical analysis of magnetic field considering conservation of linkage flux in a superconducting magnet under a persistent current mode operation. This method is applied to evaluate drift of the magnetic field in a superconducting magnet for magnetic resonance imaging due to external magnetic disturbance. Analysis results show good agreement with the experimental results.