This paper proposes an analytical design sensitivity analysis (DSA) to topological parameters of MGL (molecular gas film lubrication) sliders by introducing an adjoint variable method. For the analysis of slider air bearings, we used the spatial discretization of the generalized lubrication equation based on a control volume formulation. The residual functions for inverse analysis of the slider are considered as the equality constraint functions. The slider rail heights of all grid cells are chosen as design variables since they are the topological parameters determining air bearing surface (ABS). Then, a complicated adjoint variable equation is formulated to directly handle the highly nonlinear asymmetric coefficient matrix and vector in the discrete system equations of slider air bearings. An alternating direction implicit (ADI) scheme is utilized to efficiently solve large-scale problem in special band storage. The simulation results of DSA are directly compared with those of finite-difference approximation (FDA) to show the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed approach. The overall sensitivity distribution over the ABS is reported, and clearly shows to which section of the ABS the special attention should be given during the manufacturing process. It is demonstrated that the proposed method can reduce more than 99 percent of the CPU time in comparison with FDA, even though both methods give the same results.

1.
Yoon
,
S.-J.
, and
Choi
,
D.-H.
,
1995
, “
Design Optimization of the Taper-Flat Slider Positioned by a Rotary Actuator
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
117
(
4
), pp.
588
593
.
2.
O’Hara
,
M. A.
, and
Bogy
,
D. B.
,
1995
, “
Robust Design Optimization Techniques for Ultra-Low Flying Sliders
,”
IEEE Trans. Magn.
,
31
, pp.
2955
2957
.
3.
O’Hara
,
M. A.
,
Hu
,
Y.
, and
Bogy
,
D. B.
,
1996
, “
Effects of Slider Sensitivity Optimization
,”
IEEE Trans. Magn.
,
32
(
5
), pp.
3744
3746
.
4.
Lu
,
S.
,
Hu
,
Y.
,
O’Hara
,
M. A.
,
Bogy
,
D. B.
,
Bhatia
,
C. S.
, and
Hsia
,
Y.-T.
,
1996
, “
Air Bearing Design, Optimization, Stability Analysis and Verification for Sub-25nm Flying
,”
IEEE Trans. Magn.
,
32
(
1
), pp.
103
109
.
5.
Yoon
,
S.-J.
, and
Choi
,
D.-H.
,
1997
, “
An Optimum Design of the Transverse Pressure Contour Slider for Enhanced Flying Characteristics
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
119
(
3
), pp.
520
524
.
6.
Choi
,
D.-H.
, and
Kang
,
T.-S.
,
1999
, “
An Optimization Method for Design of the Subambient Pressure Shaped Rail Sliders
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
121
, pp.
575
580
.
7.
Kang
,
T.-S.
, and
Choi
,
D.-H.
,
2001
, “
Optimal Design of HDD Air-Lubricated Slider Bearings for Improving Dynamic Characteristics and Operating Performance
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
123
, pp.
541
547
.
8.
Fukui
,
S.
, and
Kaneko
,
R.
,
1988
, “
Analysis of Ultra-Thin Gas Film Lubrication Based on Linearized Boltzmann Equation: First Report-Derivation of a Generalized Lubrication Equation Including Thermal Creep Flow
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
110
, pp.
253
262
.
9.
Hu
,
Y.
, and
Bogy
,
D. B.
,
1998
, “
Solution of the Rarefied Gas Lubrication Equation Using an Additive Correction Based Multigrid Control Volume Method
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
120
, pp.
280
288
.
10.
Patankar, S. V., 1980, Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, McGraw-Hill, New York.
11.
Fukui
,
S.
, and
Kaneko
,
R.
,
1990
, “
A Database for Interpolation of Poiseuille Flow Rates for High Knudsen Number Lubrication Problems
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
112
, pp.
78
83
.
12.
Choi
,
D.-H.
, and
Yoon
,
S.-J.
,
1994
, “
Static Analysis of Flying Characteristics of the Head Slider by Using an Optimization Technique
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
,
116
, pp.
90
94
.
13.
Haftka, R. T., and Gurdal, Z., 1992, Elements of Structural Optimization, 3rd Revised and Expanded Edition, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
14.
Kogure, K., Fukui, S., Mitsuya, Y., and Kaneko, R., 1983, “Design of Negative Pressure Slider for Magnetic Recording Disks,” Tribol., 105. pp. 496–502.
You do not currently have access to this content.