Application of Optimization Approach to Static FE Analysis of HDD Slider

The objective of the present work is to present the numerical analysis of the computer hard disk slider. The pressure between slider and disk surfaces is calculated using the finite element method for the generalized Reynolds’ equation solution, with application of tabulated data for the flow rate coefficient. The search for the steady state attitude of the slider is formulated in terms of optimization and solved by a combination of the conjugate gradient method, method of feasible directions and quadratic curve fitting. The advantages of the perturbation method in static analysis are considered. The steady state attitude of the femto slider is studied for various radial positions and skew angles. The parameters having effect on the objective function Hessian matrix are studied for the purpose of improvement of the search process convergence rates.