An Alternative Simulation Method for Calculation of Microgas Flows under Flying Head Sliders

Abstract

The precise knowledge of the force and moment generated by the air squeezed under the read-write slider by the rotating disc is an engineering necessity in designing the air bearing surface slider. This paper reviews methods addressing the thin gas film bearings problem. It firstly reviews briefly the relatively well-known two methods of calculations of the microgas flows under flying head sliders, the generalized Reynolds equation, having given a number of useful results of slider design, and the DSMC method, which is precise and appropriate for the flow of complex configurations but is restricted to miniature (~micrometer) size sliders. The main purpose of the paper is to introduce to the reader an alternative method, the information preservation (IP) method, for use in simulation of the flows under air bearing surfaces. Some recent results of IP simulation of slider flows published on conference proceedings are introduced here.