Simulation of tape flying characteristics above VTR drum considering in-plane stress

A simulation method has been developed for the investigation of the global characteristics of a tape flying above a video tape recorder (VTR) drum. The effect of in-plane stress in the tape, i.e. geometric nonlinearity, is considered, and the deformation equations and Reynolds equation are discretized simultaneously by the Galerkin method. Using this method, the tape flying characteristics of the realistic model can be analyzed without simplifying the boundary conditions, and the number of nonlinear iterations can be significantly reduced as compared with conventional methods. The tape flying characteristics of the test model for an 8-mm VTR are calculated. The results have been confirmed by experiments