Journal of Vibration and Control

http://jvc.sagepub.
com/
Journal of Vibration and Control
http://jvc.sagepub.com/content/9/1-2/95
The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/107754603030743
2003 9: 95 Journal of Vibration and Control
G. Naganathan, S. Ramadhayani and A. K. Bajaj
Numerical Simulations of Flutter Instability of a Flexible Disk Rotating Close to a Rigid Wall
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
can be found at: Journal of Vibration and Control Additional services and information for
http://jvc.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:
http://jvc.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions:
http://jvc.sagepub.com/content/9/1-2/95.refs.html Citations:
What is This?
- Jan 1, 2003 Version of Record >>

at Vietnam National University on December 23, 2013 jvc.sagepub.com Downloaded from at Vietnam National University on December 23, 2013 jvc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
Ah`Xe\VT_ F\`h_Tg\baf bY 9_hggXe <afgTU\_\gl bY T 9_Xk\U_X
7\f^ EbgTg\aZ 6_bfX gb T E\Z\W JT__
G. NAGANATHAN
S. RAMADHAYANI
A. K. BAJAJ
School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1288, USA
(Received 3 June 2001; accepted 6 August 2001)
Abstract. In this paper, we present a numerical study of flutter instability of a flexible disk rotating near a
rigid wall. The disk is modeled using linear plate theory, and the air flow between the disk and the rigid plate
is modeled using the Reynolds equation of lubrication for thin-film flows. The coupled diskfluid equations
are solved numerically. The spatial derivatives are approximated using finite-difference schemes and the
time integration is performed using the RungeKutta numerical scheme. The transient numerical simulation
is used to determine approximations to the exact stability boundaries for stable operation of the disk. The
stability boundaries for the diskfluid system are captured for a wide range of circumferential mode numbers
(1630) and disk rotational speeds, and these predictions are compared to the predictions of an approximate
single-mode analysis.
Key Words : Flutter, fluidstructure interaction, rotating disk
$! <AGEB7H6G<BA
The dynamics of a spinning disk, such as that of a computer memory disk, is of great
current interest. The ever-increasing need for higher spin rates to reduce the access time for
reading/writing of data in a computer memory disk calls for high reliability and high speeds.
In computer applications, the hard/floppy disk rotates very close to a base plate. The thin air
filmbetween the disk and the base plate helps to stabilize the transverse vibrations of the disk,
allowing the disk to be operated at speeds much above the first resonance speed (also termed
a critical speed) of a disk spinning in the absence of a fluid. At much higher spinning speeds,
there is however the possibility of the disk undergoing self-excited oscillations resulting from
the coupling between the dynamics of the spinning flexible disk and the hydrodynamics of
the fluid film. At such rotation speeds, the air film drag force and the film generated pressure
distribution, instead of dissipating energy, start supplying energy to the disk. Owing to this
supply of energy to the disk, the amplitude of vibration of the disk grows in time. Since it
is important to control the transverse deflection of the disk in magnetic recording, a study of
the nature of these self-excited oscillations becomes important.
The preliminary research into the effects of the fluid mediumon the transverse vibrations
of rotating disks was started by Pearson (1961). His experiments showed that the presence of
Journal of Jibration and Control, 9: 95118, 2003 DOI: 10.1177/107754603030742
f ?2003 Sage Publications
at Vietnam National University on December 23, 2013 jvc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
96 G. NAGANATHAN ET AL.
a base plate stabilizes the transverse motion of the disk. Pelech and Shapiro (1964) presented
a more complex analysis of a flexible recording disk in the vicinity of a thin film of air.
Solutions were obtained for a steady, axisymmetric configuration. Adams (1980) examined
the steady-state solution of a disk spinning near a rigid wall. He included the effect of bending
stiffness in the model for the disk and treated the fluid as incompressible. An offshoot of this
kind of analysis, involving the two-way coupling between the fluid and the structure, opened
the arena for the study of flutter instability and self-excited oscillations in rotating systems.
The stability of a flexible disk spinning in an unbounded medium, or in bounded flows
with large gap widths, was experimentally examined by DAngelo and Mote (1993). They
observed that at sufficiently high speed, the fluidstructure coupling leads to flutter instability
of the disk and the response of the disk is essentially in the form of a single backward
traveling wave with a nonzero transverse mode number. Yasuda et al. (1992) proposed that
the aerodynamic forces responsible for self-excited oscillations can be modeled as lift and
damping forces. They further assumed that the ratio of the lift and the damping forces
is proportional to the speed of disk rotation. This model allowed them to predict the flutter
instability in the form of a single backward traveling wave. More recently, Hansen et al.
(2001) and Kimet al. (2000) have provided a more physical basis for this modeling approach,
and have shown that it can be effectively used to develop an experimental methodology
capable of predicting flutter speeds.
The stability of the equilibrium configuration of a rotating disk coupled to a thin fluid
film between the disk and rigid boundary has been examined analytically by a number of
investigators. One of the prominent studies was carried out by Hosaka and Crandall (1992).
For the coupled fluiddisk system, they concluded that the instability appears when the
relative velocity between the disk and the average air flow is larger than the traveling wave
velocity of a wave mode of disk vibration. While Chonan et al. (1992) modeled the film
as a linear elastic foundation, Hosaka and Crandall (1992) modeled the fluid by lubrication
equations that neglect the effect of radial flow. Huang and Mote (1995) undertook a linearized
analysis of the instability mechanisms of a disk rotating close to a rigid surface. They claimed
that the instabilities in the disk film system are of two types:
(i) rotating damping instability, which is caused by the rotating film damping at rotation
speeds above a critical value that is less than the flutter speed;
(ii) combination instability, which is caused by the combined effect of the film stiffness and
damping at rotation speeds above a threshold that is greater than the flutter speed.
The maximum rotation speed of stable disk vibration is bounded by the lowest onset speed
of rotating damping instability. Finally, Renshaw (1998) has used Lyapunovs second method
to determine the critical speed of a flexible disk spinning inside an enclosure.
Boulahbal and Crandall (1997) (also see Boulahbal (1995)) recently reported on very
interesting experiments for a disk spinning close to a base plate. They carried the experiments
into post-critical region at rotational speeds much above the critical speeds. In these
experiments, in addition to the expected harmonic waves, solitary waves were also observed.
It was noted that the solitary waves propagate with a speed that does not depend upon the
speed of rotation. Furthermore, even with dispersion present in the fluid, all the solitary
waves propagate with the same speed. This work has been further supported by additional
experimental results reported in Choi and Crandall (1999).
FLUTTER OF A ROTATING DISK 97
The present study also deals with the stability of a spinning flexible annular disk which
is clamped at the inner radius, is free at the outer radius, and rotates about its vertical axis
close to a rigid base plate with a constant speed of \ rad/s. The air flow between the disk and
the base plate is modeled as an incompressible and laminar flow, and thin-film assumption
is utilized. The thermophysical properties of air are assumed to be constant. The fluid flow
and the disk deflection are coupled by means of the spacing and the pressure at the interface.
The disk is modeled by a linear plate equation for a spinning disk. The equations governing
the disk deflection and the fluid flow represent a set of coupled nonlinear partial differential
equations. The goal is to solve these coupled nonlinear evolution (time-dependent) equations
directly without subjecting them to linearization or to any other approximation. The spatial
derivatives are approximated by finite differences, whereas the temporal solution is achieved
by using the RungeKutta algorithm. A direct numerical simulation tool is thus developed
to solve the governing equations. This code is then used to predict the existence of flutter
instability, and possibly self-excited oscillations. We should note that the numerical approach
presented here gives a practical means to evaluate the stability of the equilibriumsteady state,
whereas the linear eigenvalue analysis is needed to analytically show the existence of flutter
instability.
The work is organized as follows. Section 2 gives the underlying assumptions and
governing equations for the disk deflection. The model governing the fluid motions is
also presented along with the underlying assumptions. Section 3 describes the various
numerical techniques used. The resulting set of algebraic equations is solved using standard
numerical schemes. Section 4 explains the single-mode analysis technique of Hosaka and
Crandall (1992), the verification of the numerical transient response code, and the numerical
prediction of self-excited oscillations. Section 5 discusses some of the numerical and
computational difficulties encountered, and the paper ends in Section 6 with a summary and
some conclusions.
%! :BI8EA<A: 8DH4G<BAF
2.1. Fluid equations
Consider an annular circular disk, clamped at its inner radius r
a
, free at its outer radius r
b
, and
rotating at a constant angular velocity \. The lower surface of the disk is at a distance d from
a rigid base plate, as shown in Figure 1. The fluid flow between the disk and the base plate
is modeled by simplifying the NavierStokes equations. The following basic assumptions
regarding the flow are made:
(i) the fluid is Newtonian;
(ii) the flow is laminar and incompressible;
(iii) the fluid viscosity is constant;
(iv) the thermal effects are negligible;
(v) all fluid inertial forces, except for the centrifugal force, are negligible compared to the
viscous forces;
(vi) the fluid film thickness is small compared to the diameter of the disk; thus, the pressure
variation across the film thickness is negligible compared to variations in the plane
perpendicular to the disk axis.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the diskfluid model.
With these simplifying assumptions, the NavierStokes equations in the stationary frame
can be written as
r-momentum:
o
a
v
5
o
r
=
oP
or
n
o
5
v
r
o:
5
, (1)
c-momentum:
0 =
1
r
oP
oc
n
o
5
v
o
o:
5
, (2)
:-momentum:
0 =
oP
o:
, (3)
whereas, the continuity equation is given by
1
r
o
or
(rv
r
)
1
r
ov
o
oc

ov
:
o:
= 0, (4)
where o
a
is the density of the fluid and n is its viscosity. The coordinate system is fixed at
the radial center of the disk and coincides with the neutral plane of the disk in its undeformed
position. The fluid equations will be later transferred into a frame rotating with the disk. The
variable c represents the stationary angular coordinate whereas the variable 0 denotes the
angular coordinate rotating with the disk. The two coordinates are related by
c = 0 \t. (5)
Associated with the four fluid equations, there are the boundary conditions. Three of these
conditions are for no slip at the lower surface of the rotating disk. The remaining conditions
are for no slip at the stationary disk boundary or the base plate. Note that, at the base plate,
: = (d
h
5
). Now, the continuity and momentum equations for fluid motion are to be
integrated. It turns out that algebraic complexity in the derived equations is reduced if the
coordinate system is moved along the axial direction by (d
h
5
). The boundary conditions
for the fluid flow owing to the no-slip condition then become
: = 0 v
r
= 0, (6)
: = s(r, c, t) v
r
= 0, (7)
: = 0 v
o
= 0, (8)
: = s(r, c, t) v
o
= r\, (9)
: = 0 v
:
= 0, (10)
: = s(r, c, t) v
:
=
os
ot
\
os
oc
. (11)
Here s(r, c, t) represents the gap or the film thickness between the rotating disk and the
stationary base plate. Also, while equations (6), (8) and (10) represent the boundary
conditions of no slip at the base plate, equations (7), (9) and (11) represent the boundary
conditions of no slip at the disk surface. Now, the c-momentum and r-momentum equations
are integrated to obtain expressions for v
o
and v
r
. These are then substituted into the
continuity equation and the resulting continuity equation is integrated across the :-direction
utilizing the appropriate boundary conditions. This equation, when written in terms of the
rotating coordinate system, is given by
o
or
_
rs
6
n
oP
or
_
1
r
o
o0
_
s
6
n
oP
o0
_
=
_
8o
a
\
5
10n
_
o
or
_
r
5
s
6
_
6r\
os
o0
12r
os
ot
o
a
10n
6
o
or
_
n\s
8
oP
o0

8
28
s
:
r
5
_
oP
o0
_
5
_
. (12)
This is the well-known Reynolds equation in the theory of lubrication for the pressure
variation as a function of the radial distance r and the angle 0. The fluid pressure is assumed
to be atmospheric at both the inner and outer radii of the disk. The boundary conditions for
equation (12) are then
P(r
a
) = P(r
b
) = 0. (13)
2.2. isk equation
As already stated, the disk is of constant thickness, and is rotating with a constant angular
velocity \. The following basic assumptions are made for the disk model:
(i) the disk is made of an isotropic material;
(ii) the Young Modulus (E) and the Poisson ratio (t) for the plate are constant;
(iii) the plate is linearly elastic so that Hookes law holds;
(iv) for any point on the disk, the in-plane displacements (u, v) are much smaller than the
transverse deflection (w), that is, 0 < u, v << w; hence, quadratic and higher-order
terms involving u and v in the straindisplacement relations are neglected;
(v) points lying initially on a normal to the mid-plane of the disk remain on the normal
during deformation, that is, transverse shear is ignored;
(vi) the transverse deflection (w) does not vary across the thickness of the disk, that is,
c
::
= 0;
(vii) shear deflection is neglected, which implies that the normal shear strains are negligible,
that is, c
r:
= 0, c
0:
= 0;
(viii) rotary inertia is neglected.
With these assumptions, the model for the rotating disk is restricted to a linear disk model
with small transverse and in-plane displacements. Thus, the governing plate equation for a
spinning disk, with both membrane and bending stiffness included, is given by
1
r
o
or
_
ro
r
ow
or
_
1
r
o
o0
_
o
0
1
r
ow
o0
_
D
h
u
7
w
P
h
= o
d
o
5
w
ot
5
. (14)
Here, o
r
and o
0
are the steady-state stresses in the disk due to the centrifugal action of rotation,
and they are given by
o
r
=
o
d
\
5
8
_
(1 t)(r
5
a
r
5
b
I) (8 t)r
5
(1 t)I
r
5
a
r
5
b
r
5
_
,
o
0
=
o
d
\
5
8
_
(1 t)(r
5
a
r
5
b
I) (1 8t)r
5
(1 t)I
r
5
a
r
5
b
r
5
_
, (15)
where
I =
(1 t)r
5
a
(8 t)r
5
b
(1 t)r
5
a
(1 t)r
5
b
.
Also, D is the bending stiffness of the disk, h is its thickness, P is the transverse pressure
distribution at its surface due to the fluid, and o
d
is the density of the disk material.
Since equation (14) is a fourth-order equation, four boundary conditions are needed. For
the disk clamped at the inner radius, the displacement and the slope of displacement should
vanish there. Similarly, the shear and the bending moment vanish at the outer radius. Thus,
the required boundary conditions are:
w(r
a
, 0, t) = 0,
_
ow
or
_
+r@r
d
,0,t,
= 0,
M
rr
(r
b
, 0, t) = D
_
o
5
w
or
5

t
r
_
ow
or

1
r
o
5
w
o0
5
__
= 0, (16)
J
rr
(r
b
, 0, t) = D
_
o
or
_
u
5
w
_
1 t
r
5
_
o
6
w
oro0
5

1
r
o
5
w
o0
5
__
= 0.
Equations (12)(16) are the governing equations for the spinning flexible disk and the
fluid flow between the disk and the rigid surface. Essentially, the same model was also
assumed in the studies of Hosaka and Crandall (1992) and Huang and Mote (1995) except that
Hosaka and Crandall neglected the radial flow. Their approach for stability was to linearize
these equations about their steady-state solutions. Note that, due to the spinning of the disk,
the fluid is accelerated outward. Incompressibility of the fluid and continuity then requires a
reduction in gap thickness as a function of radius, which implies the corresponding deflection
of the disk; see Adams (1980). While Hosaka and Crandall linearized the equations about
the appropriate steady-state solution, and neglected the last two terms in the square bracket in
the fluid equation (equation (12)), Huang and Mote assumed zero deflection with asymptotic
form of pressure distribution (only valid for large r) as the steady-state solution about which
to linearize the equations. In the present study, the complete set of equations is numerically
solved without any further assumptions/simplifications.
&! AH@8E<64? 4?:BE<G;@F
The disk as well as the fluid equations are solved using the finite difference numerical
technique for the spatial derivatives. The disk is discretized into (nr 1) equal segments
in the radial direction starting with grid points numbered from zero at the inner radius and
ending with (nr 1) at the outer radius. Similarly, in the angular direction, the disk is
discretized into n0 equal segments with grid points numbered from zero to (n0 1). The
first-order and second-order spatial derivatives in equation (14) are approximated using three-
point center-difference approximations whereas the third-order and fourth-order derivatives
are approximated using five-point center difference approximations (Hoffman, 1992).
The periodicity requirement in the angular direction is ensured by the condition:
w(r, 0 = 0) = w(r, 0 = 2 ). (17)
Upon substituting the approximations for the spatial derivatives in the governing
equations, the finite difference approximation at an internal grid point, for the terms on the
left-hand side of equation (14), may be represented as
WW
wi, f
w
i5, f
W
wi, f
w
i4, f
C
wi, f
w
i, f
E
wi, f
w
i.4, f
EE
wi, f
w
i.5, f
NN
wi, f
w
i, f.5
N
wi, f
w
i, f.4
S
wi, f
w
i, f4
SS
wi, f
w
i, f5
NE
wi, f
w
i.4, f.4
SE
wi, f
w
i.4, f4
SW
wi, f
w
i4, f4
NW
wi, f
w
i4, f.4
1
wi, f
,
i = 2, 8 . . . , (nr 2), f = 0, 1, . . . , (n0 1), (18)
where WW
wi, f
, W
wi, f
, C
wi, f
, E
wi, f
, EE
wi, f
, NN
wi, f
, N
wi, f
, S
wi, f
, SS
wi, f
, NE
wi, f
, NW
wi, f
,
SE
wi, f
, SW
wi, f
and 1
wi, f
represent west-west, west, centre, east, east-east, north-north,
north, south, south-south, north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west neighbor coefficients
and the source term for the grid point (i, f), respectively. Here 1
wi, f
is the source term
corresponding to the fluid pressure P on the disk, and i and f refer to the grid point numbering
in the radial and the angular directions, respectively. The finite difference relation at the
penultimate grid point in the radial direction has the fictitious grid point nr. The moment
boundary condition is used to obtain a relation between w
nr, f
and the physical grid points.
Similarly, the finite difference relation at the last grid point (nr1) in the radial direction has
two fictitious points nr and (nr 1). The shear boundary condition at the last grid point is
made use of to obtain a relation between the value of displacement at the grid point (nr 1)
and the physical grid points.
The same spatial discretization is now used for the fluid equation (equation (12)). Thus,
the derivatives are approximated using finite difference approximations as follows
o
or
_
rs
6
oP
or
_
(rs
6
)
i.45, f
P
i.4, f
P
i, f
(^r)
5
(rs
6
)
i45, f
P
i, f
P
i4, f
(^r)
5
,
1
r
o
o0
_
s
6
oP
o0
_

1
r
i, f
_
(s
6
)
i, f.
4
5
P
i, f.4
P
i, f
(^0)
5
(s
6
)
i, f
4
5
P
i, f
P
i, f4
(^0)
5
_
,
os
o0

s
i, f.4
s
i, f4
2^0
,
o
or
_
r
5
s
6
_

r
5
s
6
i.4
r
5
s
6
i4
2^r
, (19)
and similar expressions for the other terms in the equation. Here also, the subscripts i, f denote
the grid point number in the radial and tangential directions, respectively. The periodicity
condition is also ensured by requiring:
P(r, 0) = P(r, 2 ). (20)
Upon substituting the finite difference approximations for the spatial derivatives in
equation (12) and gathering the terms, the finite difference expression for the spatial operator
at an internal grid point (i, f) may be represented as:
W
p,i
P
i4, f
C
p,i
P
i, f
E
p,i
P
i.4, f
N
p,i
P
i, f.4
S
p,i
P
i, f4
NE
p,i
P
i.4, f.4
SE
p,i
P
i.4, f4
NW
p,i
P
i4, f.4
SW
p,i
P
i4, f4
= 1
p,i
,
i = 1, 2 . . . , (nr 2), f = 0, 1, 2 . . . , (n0 1), (21)
where E
p,if
, W
p,if
, N
p,if
, S
p,if
, C
p,if
, NE
p,if
, NW
p,if
, SE
p,if
, SW
p,if
and 1
p,if
represent the east,
west, north, south, center, north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west neighbor coefficients
and the source term for the grid point (i, f), respectively. The source term here represents the
mixed derivative terms in square brackets and the term
os
ot
which is replaced by the velocity
of the disk at that grid point.
The temporal derivatives in the problemare integrated using a fourth-order RungeKutta
time marching scheme. For this, the structural equation (14) is represented as a set of two
first-order equations. The spatial derivatives are expressed in functional form, so that we can
write:
o
ov
i
ot
= Lw
i
,
ow
i
ot
= v
i
. (22)
Here, Lw
i
represents the expression (18) at a node point. For compactness, we can write
these equations as
ov
ot
= F(t, w, v),
ow
ot
= G(t, w, v). (23)
Given the values of disk displacement and velocity, as well as the fluid pressure at the present
time step n, the values of the displacement and velocity at the next time step (n 1) are
predicted using the RungeKutta method. The increments in the displacement and velocity
to obtain the value at the next time level are as follows:
K1 = ^tF(t
n
, w
n
, v
n
),
L1 = ^tG(t
n
, w
n
, v
n
),
K2 = ^tF
_
t
n
^t
2
, w
n
L1
2
, v
n
K1
2
_
,
L2 = ^tG
_
t
n
^t
2
, w
n
L1
2
, v
n
K1
2
_
,
K8 = ^tF
_
t
n
^t
2
, w
n
L2
2
, v
n
K2
2
_
,
L8 = ^tG
_
t
n
^t
2
, w
n
L2
2
, v
n
K2
2
_
,
K4 = ^tF(t
n
^t, w
n
L8, v
n
K8),
L4 = ^tG(t
n
^t, w
n
L8, v
n
K8), (24)
where K1, K2, K8 and K4 are the increments in velocity and L1, L2, L8 and L4 are
the increments in displacement. Note that a check needs to be made to ensure that the
displacement predicted is compatible with the condition that the disk does not deflect below
the base plate. Using appropriate weights to these increments, the values of disk displacement
and velocity at the next time step are predicted:
v
n.4
i, f
= v
n
i, f

K1 2K2 2K8 K4
6
,
w
n.4
i, f
= w
n
i, f

L1 2L2 2L8 L4
6
. (25)
The solution of the coupled fluidstructure evolution equations also requires prescription
of initial conditions. The initial displacement, velocity and pressure fields are prescribed over
the whole planar domain in the form:
w(r, 0, t = 0) =

f (r, 0),
v(r, 0, t = 0) = g(r, 0),
P(r, 0, t = 0) =

h(r, 0). (26)
Starting from the initial time t = 0, the process of time marching can be described as
follows. With initial displacement, velocity, and pressure field specified, equations (24) and
(25) are used to obtain the displacements and velocities at the next time step. Then, the
spacing s
i, f
at every grid point is calculated and is used as an input to the pressure equation
(equation (21)). The pressure equation is solved using a line-by-line tri-diagonal algorithm
(TDMA) (Hoffman, 1992) for lines of constant 0. Convergence is checked between the
pressure (
P) obtained from the line TDMA algorithm and that used in the displacement
equation (the specified pressure at t = 0). Thus, the following condition is checked:
_
nr4
i@4
n04
f@3
_
P
if
P
if
P
if
___
(nrn0) < c . (27)
If the criterion is not satisfied, the pressure is under-relaxed using an under-relaxation
factor, and supplied to the disk equations (24) and (25) to recalculate the displacements and
velocities. If the convergence criterion is met, the displacement, velocity and pressure are
updated with their latest values and the procedure is repeated for the next time step. The
achievement of steady state in time is checked by testing for convergence for pressure between
two successive time steps, as given by:
_
nr4
i@4
n04
f@3
_
P
n.4
if
P
n
if
P
n.4
if
___
(nrn0) < c . (28)
If steady state is not reached, the pressure, displacement and velocity are updated at
the new time levels and the iteration between the displacement and the pressure equation is
continued.
'! AH@8E<64? 4A4?LF<F 9BE FG45<?<GL
In order to effectively utilize the transient analysis code developed in the last section,
we need to understand the expected nature of response of the coupled fluiddisk system.
The numerical code can provide qualitatively correct as well as quantitatively accurate
approximation to the time series for the evolution of disk displacements and velocities, and
fluid pressure, at the discretized locations of the spatial field. A given initial spatial state
of the system can evolve towards a steady state if there exists a stable steady state. For a
general nonlinear system, there can exist more than one stable steady state. Then, the steady
state achieved depends on the chosen initial conditions. Now, it is well known that for the
fluiddisk system, there exists an axisymmetric steady state in which the disk takes a hat
shape (Pelech and Shapiro, 1964; Adams, 1980). Thus, the stability of the axisymmetric
steady state can be evaluated by starting the transient code with initial state close to it and
then following its evolution in time.
The stability of the axisymmetric state of the fluiddisk system can also be studied using
a linearized stability analysis. As noted in the introduction, Hosaka and Crandall (1992), as
well as Huang and Mote (1995), have conducted such analyses. Their studies suggest that
the stability strongly depends on the rotational speed, the film thickness, and the azimuthal
mode number of the disturbance. It is well known that any disturbance on the disk propagates
as a combination of forward and backward traveling waves. The solution for the linearized
stability problem of the fluiddisk system is an eigensolution of the linear system of the
coupled equations. The eigenvalues for the system are, in general, complex. The real part of
an eigenvalue determines the growth or decay rate of the corresponding disturbance wave.
The imaginary part of the eigenvalue represents the frequency of the wave. At speeds of
rotation lower than the critical speed, the real part of all the eigenvalues are negative and, thus,
the forward and the backward traveling waves decay exponentially with time and the disk
reaches an equilibriumsteady state. This equilibriumstate is mostly the axisymmetric steady-
state solution. At the critical speed, the real part of one eigenvalue is zero whereas all the
other eigenvalues have negative real parts. This implies that the corresponding wavenumber
of the backward traveling wave does not growor decay in time for the linear model. Thus, the
disturbance propagates as a harmonic wave. However, for the forward traveling wave, the real
part of the eigenvalue is still negative. Thus, the forward traveling waves die down with time,
as explained in Hosaka and Crandall (1992). Yasuda et al. (1992) provide a mathematical
explanation of howthe forward traveling waves decay, whereas the backward traveling waves
are susceptible to flutter instability and subsequent self-excited oscillations.
When the speed of rotation of the disk is above the critical speed for a given wavenumber
n, the real part of the corresponding eigenvalue for the backward traveling wave is positive.
The forward traveling waves decay in amplitude in time, whereas the supercritical backward
traveling wave increases in amplitude in time. It is thus the supercritical backward traveling
wave that leads to self-excited oscillations of the fluiddisk system.
With this understanding of the expected self-excited instability behavior of the system,
we are now ready to use the transient code. The numerical simulation is set up such that
the physical parameters of the disk and the fluid are specified in an input file. In addition,
the number of radial grid points (nr), the number of circumferential grid points (nphi) and
the time step (delt) are also specified in the input file. For the fluiddisk system parameters
used in this study, nr was set at 50 whereas nphi depended on the specific mode number of
the initial disturbance. Usually 12 equispaced points were used in the angular direction to
capture one wavelength of the harmonic mode. The time step chosen for the parameter set of
interest was 10
9
s, unless mentioned otherwise.
Most of the results in this work were generated for a fluiddisk system with: r
a
=
21.0 mm, r
b
= 70.0 mm, E = 8.48 10
<
N/m
5
, h = 0.1 mm, n = 18.6 10
9
Ns/m
5
,
o
d
= 1420 kg/m
6
, o
a
= 1.28 kg/m
6
, t = 0.8. These parameters correspond to those used
in the work of Huang and Mote (1995). Then, the first step is to determine the axisymmetric
steady state of the fluiddisk system whose stability will be then evaluated. The steady-
state displacement and pressure profiles are determined by using the numerical algorithm for
equilibrium equations with an axisymmetric initial condition. Many different initial guesses
to the equilibrium equations were given and all converged to the same steady state. These
steady states for the axisymmetric disk displacement, w
o
(r), and axisymmetric pressure
profile, p
o
(r), for the disk spinning at \ = 12, 000 rpm, are shown in Figures 2 and 3.
Note that the spinning disk develops a negative pressure in the fluid film, and the maximum
negative pressure increases in magnitude with the increase in spin rate. There is then the
associated increase in disk deflection and reduction in the film thickness as the spin rate is
increased.
Figure 2. Steady-state axisymmetric displacement
J
Eo for l ' 2c fff rpm and _ ' f2 mm. The
disk and fluid parameters are: o
@
' 2f mm, o
K
' .ff mm, . ' eH f f
b
N/m
2
, ' f mm,
> ' HS ff
3S
Ns/m
2
, 4
_
' e2f Kg/m
, 4
@
' 2 Kg/m
, v ' f.
Figure 3. Steady-state axisymmetric pressure R
J
Eo for l ' 2c fff rpm and _ ' f2 mm. The
disk and fluid parameters are: o
@
' 2f mm, o
K
b
N/m
2
, ' f mm,
> ' HS ff
3S
Ns/m
2
, 4
_
' e2f Kg/m
, 4
@
' 2 Kg/m
, v ' f.
At equilibrium, the axisymmetric pressure p
o
(r) on the surface of the disk at the interface
and the pressure in the fluid are the same. To study the transient response and stability of an
axisymmetric steady state, the axisymmetric equilibrium state (displacement w
o
(r), velocity
v
o
(r), and pressure field p
o
(r)) needs to be perturbed and given as an initial condition to the
transient code. In all cases considered here, only perturbations in displacement were given
and the pressure initial condition was assumed to be the equilibrium pressure field. Also,
the disk velocity was assumed to be zero. The disk displacement field was perturbed by a
small non-axisymmetric component. In general, the fluiddisk system may be unstable to
non-axisymmetric perturbations with any circumferential wavenumber. Previous analyses
(Hosaka and Crandall, 1992; Huang and Mote, 1995) have shown that the flutter instability
arises mostly in high mode numbers. Since the transient numerical analysis is very computer
intensive, it was necessary to obtain some approximation to the critical speed as a function
of the disturbance wavenumber. Such an approximation was provided by the single-mode
linear analysis also developed by Hosaka and Crandall (1992). Following their approach,
approximations to the critical disk speeds as a function of the disturbance wavenumber were
determined. Results of such an analysis for the fluiddisk system being considered, and for
various spacings of d = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 mm, are shown in Figure 4. More details of this
analysis are available in Naganathan (1999). These plots show that, for a given disk spacing,
the critical speedwavenumber graph has a minimum. Thus, there is a wavenumber for which
the critical speed is the smallest. At lower as well as higher mode numbers, the critical speed
is higher than this lowest value. For much higher mode numbers, the critical speed essentially
increases linearly with the mode number. At mode numbers below that for the lowest critical
speed, the critical speeds grow rapidly. Thus, all disturbances with mode numbers less than
15 essentially decay exponentially to the equilibrium steady state. Finally, these curves show
that as the spacing decreases, the disk is able to operate at a higher rotation speed without
destabilizing.
Now, recall that this single-mode analysis is very approximate and is made with the
assumption that the ratio r
a
,r
b
of the disk radii is small. This condition is not satisfied for
the present disk. Nevertheless, the analysis gives us a qualitative trend of the critical speed
and a rough approximation of the values of critical speeds. This information is now used as
a basis to provide the initial conditions in the numerical code.
The computer code was checked for four different types of initial conditions. The steady-
state solution was perturbed using various perturbation functions and for various amplitudes
of perturbation. For all cases, when the speed of rotation of the disk was much less than
the critical speed predicted by single-mode analysis, the disk settled back to its steady-state
axisymmetric configuration. Having verified that the numerical code was behaving as it
should, it was then utilized for predicting the stability boundaries for self-excited oscillations.
We now use the transient numerical code developed and demonstrate the existence of the
supercritical backward traveling wave that builds up in amplitude. It can also be demonstrated
with the numerical code that, even when a higher mode number becomes unstable at a critical
speed of rotation, the lower modes might be stable. This confirms the predictions of the
approximate single-mode analysis results shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Critical speed for various gap sizes, as predicted by the approximate single-mode linearized
stability analysis: o
@
' 2f mm, o
K
b
N/m
2
, ' f mm,
> ' HS ff
3S
Ns/m
2
, 4
_
' e2f Kg/m
, 4
@
' 2 Kg/m
, v ' f.
4.1. Case (i): \ = 12, 000 rpm, mode number n = 20, d = 0.2 mm, c = 1
The steady-state axisymmetric displacement of the disk and the corresponding pressure field
at a rotation rate of 12,000 rpm are shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively. This speed of
12,000 rpm can be seen to be close to a critical speed for the 20th azimuthal mode from the
single-mode analysis. Thus, it is expected that the initial perturbation containing the 20th
mode will give rise to a backward traveling wave that grows in time. Therefore, the steady-
state displacement is perturbed such that the perturbed displacement, pressure and velocity
profiles are given by
w(r, 0, t = 0) = w
o
(r)(1 c sin(200)),
p(r, 0, t = 0) = p
o
(r),
v(r, 0, t = 0) = 0. (29)
The initial disturbance on the disk deflection is shown in Figure 5. These initial
conditions are then used in the two-dimensional transient code to generate the transient
response for the system. The displacement, velocity and pressure at a point (r = 47 mm
and 0 = 86
) on the disk are shown as a function of time in Figures 68. The displacement
shows a growth rate which is exponential and confirms the presence of flutter instability.
The complete displacement fields at two different times are shown in Figures 9 and 10.
These figures reveal another fact that the displacement fluctuations are large and achieve their
maximum only in the outer regions of the disk. These observations are in agreement with
those of Hosaka and Crandall (1992). Thus, it is the outer regions of the disk that experience
maximum displacement. The velocity field of the disk and the pressure profile in the fluid
are also shown at specific times in Figures 11 and 12.
4.2. Case (ii): \ = 12, 000 rpm, mode number n = 1, d = 0.2 mm, c = 1
In this second simulation case, the initial displacement of the disk was assumed to be of the
form as that for case (i) except for the obvious change in the circumferential mode number.
The pressure and velocity fields were also same as those for case (i). The rotation rate
of 12,000 rpm was considered. In this case with a disturbance mode number of 15, the
displacement and the pressure at a point (r = 47 mm and 0 = 86
) on the disk are plotted as

a function of time in Figures 13 and 14. The oscillations at these parameters decay at a very
slow rate. This particular mode may be on the verge of instability and hence the real part of
the eigenvalue might be very close to zero. Note also that the displacement and the pressure
reach a non-zero steady-state value, as expected. If the velocity at a point were to be plotted,
it will be seen to decay to zero.
4.3. Case (iii): \ = 12, 000 rpm, mode number n = 10, c = 1
The initial conditions used for this case are also of the same form used above except for
the appropriate wavenumber of the disturbance. For the same rotation rate of 12,000 rpm,
this initial perturbation with a mode number of 10 is expected to be stable as it is far away
from the unstable as well as marginally unstable modes, at least as is seen from the single-
mode analysis. This is clearly confirmed by the time response of displacement at the point
(r = 47.0 mm, 0 = 108
) on the disk, as shown in Figure 15.

In a similar manner, the numerical code is utilized to determine the critical speeds for
a wide range of mode numbers starting from 1630. Due to the nature of the numerical
program, the growth or decay of only one disturbance of a given mode structure at a given
rotation rate can be ascertained at a time. This means that there is no direct way of determining
the critical speed versus mode number curve, and we can achieve only a bound on the critical
speeds. In this bound, the lower value gives the disk rotation speed where the mode is stable
and the upper value gives a speed for which the disk is unstable. With more simulations,
the bound can be made tighter depending on the design needs. These results of numerical
simulations for the disk and fluid system used by Huang and Mote (1995) are shown in
Figure 16.
(! AH@8E<64? 7<99<6H?G<8F 4A7 6B@CHG4G<BA4? 6B@C?8K<G<8F
Even though the numerical code developed is capable of predicting the flutter instability,
there are some computational difficulties that have been uncovered in the study, including
the following. Usually, only the higher modes undergo self-excited oscillations. To capture
these modes computationally, very high spatial resolution is needed. This results in very high
Figure 5. Displacement of the disk at | ' f s for case (i), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 6. Displacement as a function of time at the point (o ' e. mm, w ' S
) on the disk in case

(i), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 7. Velocity as a function of time at the point (o ' e. mm, w ' S
) on the disk in case (i),

_ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 8. Pressure as a function of time at the point (o ' e. mm, w ' S
) on the disk in case (i),

_ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 9. Displacement of the disk at | ' ffS s for case (i), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 10. Displacement of the disk at | ' ffD2 s for case (i), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 11. Pressure variation in the fluid at | ' ffS s for case (i), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 12. Velocity of the disk at | ' ffS s for case (i), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' 2f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 13. Displacement as a function of time at the point (o ' e. mm, w ' .2
) on the disk in case (ii),

_ ' f2 mm, ? ' D, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 14. Pressure as a function of time at the point (o ' e. mm, w ' .2
) on the disk in case (ii),

_ ' f2 mm, ? ' D, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 15. Displacement as a function of time at the point (o ' e. mm, w ' fH
) on the disk in
case (iii), _ ' f2 mm, ? ' f, l ' 2c fff rpm.
Figure 16. Critical speed as a function of the mode number, calculated using the single-mode analysis
and transient numerical simulations. The parameters for the disk and the fluid are: o@ ' 2f mm,
o
K
' .ff mm, _ ' f2 mm, . ' eH f f
b
N/m
2
, ' f mm, > ' HS f f
3S
Ns/m
2
,
4
_
' e2f Kg/m
, 4
@
' 2 Kg/m
, v ' f.
computational time. The coupling between the disk equation and the fluid equation involves
an iterative procedure for convergence at each time step. Moreover, the solution procedure for
obtaining the pressure fromthe Reynolds equation is also iterative. These iterative procedures
also tend to increase the computational time, especially for high spatial mode numbers.
Another problem is that of the small time step required for convergence and the resulting
computational time needed. Due to the nature of the equations, even a relatively large
perturbation in pressure does not result in a significant change in displacement. The
disadvantage of providing a displacement perturbation is that the time taken to achieve
convergence is quite high at every time step, and the computation takes a long time to
converge.
The following conclusions can be drawn from the numerical experiments conducted to
date:
(i) displacement perturbation has to be provided to excite the mode of interest;
(ii) in order to numerically capture the higher modes, high spatial resolution is required
and hence the time taken for the solution convergence is high at every time step;
(iii) in spite of the large computational time needed for convergence, the direct numerical
simulation is found to be able to simulate the transient response to any kind of input
conditions.
)! FH@@4EL 4A7 6BA6?HF<BAF
In this work, flutter instabilities of a rotating disk coupled to a thin film of air were studied
using numerical simulation techniques. The disk was modeled as a classical linear thin plate
with membrane and bending stiffness. The air flow between the disk and the base plate was
modeled by the Reynolds equation of lubrication, including the radial flow. The disk was
assumed to be clamped at the inner radius, free at the outer radius, and the fluid pressure was
assumed to be atmospheric at both the inner and outer radii of the disk. The governing disk
and fluid equations along with the boundary conditions were numerically solved. The spatial
derivatives were approximated using finite difference techniques and the time integration
was carried out using a fourth-order RungeKutta scheme. The results of the single-mode
analysis of Hosaka and Crandall (1992) were used to provide the initial conditions for the
direct numerical simulations.
The results have shown that the critical speed of a disk rotating close to a base plate
on a thin film of air is increased tremendously. This increase in stiffness of the disk is due
to the centrifugal stiffening caused by the fluid rotating close to the disk. The numerical
experiments have also confirmed the following:
(i) A spinning disk undergoes flutter instability, and possibly self-excited oscillations, in
the presence of air when the speed of rotation is above a critical speed for a given
disturbance mode.
(ii) At a given rotation rate, a disk may be unstable for all modes in a modal interval [n
l
, n
u
[.
The growth rate and the temporal oscillation frequency for each of the unstable modes
may be different. All disturbances with mode numbers above n
u
and below n
l
are
stable.
(iii) The unstable wavenumber interval [n
l
, n
u
[ increases with the rotation rate of the disk.
(iv) Only the higher mode numbers become unstable.
(vi) While the single-mode analysis predicts a minimumcritical mode number belowwhich
all modes are stable, this is difficult to confirmfromdirect numerical simulation. How-
ever, numerical simulations do confirm qualitative validity of this conclusion.
(vii) The single-mode analysis, though not very accurate, gives a rough approximation to
the critical speeds and the mode numbers that become unstable.
Finally, this work has also shown that a direct numerical simulation of the coupled fluid
disk problem for the prediction of self-excited oscillations is possible. Note that, in order to
obtain finite-size steady-state or self-excited oscillations, however, nonlinear terms need to
be incorporated in the model. Nonlinearities can arise in both the fluid and the disk models.
For the fluid, we can include convection acceleration terms whereas, for the disk, the von
Karman type nonlinear model can be utilized. At this point it is not clear as to which of these
nonlinear terms is more significant. In addition to nonlinear extensions, the work also opens
up the possibility of studies that simulate more complex problems such as those incorporating
the presence of a flexible obstacle in-between the two disks rotating inside an enclosure.
Furthermore, the presence of a read/write head can also be incorporated and simulated.
E898E8A68F
Adams, G. G., 1980, Analysis of the flexible disk/head interface, ASME Journal of Lubrication Technology 102,
8690.
Boulahbal, D., 1995, Self-Excited Jibrations of a Spinning Disk, Doctoral Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA.
Boulahbal, D. and Crandall, S. H., 1997, Self-excited harmonic and solitary waves in a spinning disk, in Proceedings
of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Sacramento, CA, September 1417, DETC97/VIB
4093.
Choi, J.-K. and Crandall, S. H., 1999, An experimental study on solitary waves of a rotating disk, KSME International
Journal 13, 358367.
Chonan, S., Ziang, Z. W., and Shyu, Y. J., 1992, Stability analysis of a 2 floppy disk drive system and the optimum
design of the disc stabilizer, ASME Journal of Jibration and Acoustics 114, 283286.
DAngelo, C. and Mote Jr, C. D., 1993, Aerodynamically excited vibration and flutter of a thin disk rotating at super
critical speed, Journal of Sound and Jibration 168, 1530.
Hansen, M. H., Raman, A., and Mote Jr, C. D., 2001, Estimation of non-conservative aerodynamic pressure leading to
flutter of spinning disks, Journal of Fluids and Structures 15, 3957.
Hoffman, J. D., 1992, Numerical Methods for Engineers and Scientists, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Hosaka, H. and Crandall, S. H., 1992, Self-excited vibrations of a flexible disk rotating on an air film above a flat
surface, Acta Mechanica (Suppl.) 3, 115127.
Huang, F. Y. and Mote Jr, C. D., 1995, On the instability mechanisms of a disk rotating close to a rigid surface, ASME
Journal of Applied Mechanics 62, 764771.
Kim, B. C., Raman, A., and Mote Jr, C. D., 2000, Prediction of aeroelastic flutter in a hard disk drive, Journal of
Sound and Jibration 238, 309325.
Naganathan, G., 1999, Studies in Stability and Forced Response of Rotating Disks in Confined Spaces, Masters Thesis,
School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
Pearson, R. T., 1961, The development of the flexible-disk magnetic recorder, Proceedings of the IRE 49, 164174.
Pelech, I. and Shapiro, A. H., 1964, Flexible disk rotating on a gas film next to a wall, ASME Journal of Applied
Mechanics 31, 577584.
Renshaw, A. A., 1998, Critical speed for floppy disks, ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics 65, 116120.
Yasuda, K., Torii, T., and Shimizu, T., 1992, Self-excited oscillations of a circular disk rotating in air, JSME Interna-
tional Journal 35(3), 347352.

Journal of Vibration and Control

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Journal of Vibration and Control

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

http://jvc.sagepub.

http://jvc.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:

- Jan 1, 2003 Version of Record >>

) on the disk are plotted as

) on the disk, as shown in Figure 15.

) on the disk in case

) on the disk in case (i),

) on the disk in case (i),

) on the disk in case (ii),

) on the disk in case (ii),

You might also like