A Numerical Simulation of the Head-Disk Assembly in Magnetic Hard Disk Files: Part II—Solution of the Coupled System

This paper is a continuation of Part I, which considers numerical models for the various components of the HDA. Here the solvers are coupled and the resulting numerical simulator is used to study the slider-disk spacing variation that occurs when a slider passes a bump on the disk. The results are compared with a simpler simulator and it is found that new information is obtained here that illustrates the role of suspension resonances in slider-disk spacing. We also study slider-disk spacing variations due to track accessing for both linear and rotary actuators. Finally we conduct a similar study for the problem of actuator crash stop. Of particular interest is the way in which the spacing variation depends on steady flying height. Low flying sliders have stiffer air bearings, which excite more suspension resonances. On the other hand, these sliders have less spacing change during track accessing and crash stop compared to higher flying sliders.