Numerical analysis of the influence on ultra-thin film gas lubrication considering surface roughness in hard disk drives

This paper describes the effects of moving rough disk surface on thin film gas lubrication characteristics for flying head slider bearing in magnetic hard disk drives. In order to perform the most realistic simulation of slider flying characteristics over rough disk surfaces, we use the direct numerical simulation method, instead of using various averaging techniques. The effects of the surface roughness on the static flying characteristics are studied in detail. In the end, some important conclusions are drawn, which will be helpful for the design of ultra-high density magnetic recording.