Head slap simulation for linear and rotary shock impulses

A finite element model of a hard disk drive (HDD) is developed to investigate the response of the HDD to a shock impulse. Two types of shock are of interest, a linear shock and a rotary shock. The linear model corresponds to a HDD being dropped flat onto an impact surface. The rotary model is constrained to rotate about an axis and simulates a HDD standing on one edge that is allowed to drop and impact the opposite edge. The geometry is developed using Pro/E, a CAD package, and is then imported into Hypermesh, a pre- and post-processor. The transient solution is performed using LS-Dyna, a finite element solver. The three software packages are commercially available. Results are shown as animations and time series data. Comparison of the simulation results for the two models is used to develop a correlation between the linear and rotary shock tests.