AbstractThe beam stiffness matrix of a pancake made of composite superconductor elements connected by insulating material is here derived. The shear resistance of the insulation layers is taken into account as well as the effects of strand transposition of the wires in the superconductors.Applications of the presented approach to a superconductor layout proposed for the Next European Torus (NET) toroidal and poloidal field coils are shown. In particular diagrams referring to parametric studies with varying widths and heights of the insulation layer are reported.