Dynamics of Gas-Lubricated Slider Bearings in Magnetic Recording Disk Files—Part II: Numerical Simulation

Abstract

This two part paper presents the experimental observation and numerical simulation of the dynamic response of self-acting gas-lubricated slider bearings used to maintain the sub-micron spacings between the Read/Write transducers and the rotating disks in magnetic recording disk files. In this Part II, a factored implicit finite difference scheme is used to integrate the Reynolds lubrication equation, which describes the isothermal compressible fluid flow within the bearing region, and a fourth order Runge-Kutta method is used to solve the equations of motion, which describe the slider dynamics. Using this numerical model, the theoretical slider response due to a rectangular step in the disk surface is obtained. Excellent correlation is observed between theory and experiment. Results are presented to illustrate the effects of step size, step location, and surface velocity on the dynamic performance of slider bearings.