Abstract—Now-a-days, numbers of simulation software are being used all over the world to solve Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) related problems. In this present study, a commercial CFD simulation software namely STAR-CCM+ is applied to analyze the airflow characteristics inside a 2.5” hard disk drive. Each step of the software is described adequately to obtain the output and the data are verified with the theories to justify the robustness of the simulation outcome. This study gives an insight about the accuracy level of the CFD simulation software to compute CFD related problems although it largely depends upon the computer speed. Also this study will open avenues for further research. Keywords—Computational fluid dynamics, Hard disk drive, Meshing, Recirculation filter, and Filter physics parameter. I. INTRODUCTION OMPUTATIONAL fluid dynamics (CFD) is one of the branches of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems those govern with fluid flows. Computers are used to perform millions of calculations required to simulate the interactions of liquids and gases with surfaces defined by boundary conditions. According to John D. [1], the physical aspects of any fluid flows are governed by the following three fundamental principles: 1. Mass is conserved, 2. F=ma (Newton’s second law), and 3. Energy is conserved. These fundamental principles can be expressed in terms of mathematical equations which are the general form of partial differential equations. In addition, CFD is the art of replacing the governing partial differential equations of fluid flow with numbers, and advancing these numbers in space or time to obtain a final numerical description of the complete flow field of interest. The instrument which has allowed a large growth of CFD is the high-speed digital computer. Therefore, advances in CFD, and its application to solve more Chanchal Saha is with the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, CO 12120 Thailand (phone: +66-87-3349454; e-mail: saha@ait.ac.th). Huynh Trung Luong is with the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, CO 12120 Thailand (e-mail: luong@ait.ac.th). M. H. Aziz is with the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, CO 12120 Thailand (e-mail: muhammad.haris.aziz@ait.ac.th). Tharinan Rattanalert is with the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, CO 12120 Thailand (e-mail: ying_at_first@hotmail.com). complicated and sophisticated problems, are strongly related to the advancement of computer hardware. The role of CFD in engineering predictions has become so strong that today it is considered as a new ‘third dimension’ in fluid dynamics. Pure experiment and pure theory are the classical cases which are considered as other two dimensions. According to John D.’s [1] opinion, CFD supports and compliments both pure theory and experiment. In addition, with the dawn of high-speed digital computer, CFD will be considered as a third dimension with equal stature and significance of other two dimensions. From the basic research of engineering design, it has occupied the permanent place in all aspects of fluid dynamics. In various engineering application areas, its physical configurations can be rather complex (e.g., aircraft, submarines, surface ships, hydro- and aero-propulsion devices and components, electromagnetic/ radar/antennae, etc.). The numerical solutions of these usually result in problem sizes that are extremely large and must be broken up into smaller pieces and then distributed in many processors working in parallel. Nowadays, a commercial simulation software (e.g., STAR-CCM+, Fluent and so on) are capable to handle the complexity governs with problems related to CFD. However, it requires high speed computer to ensure the accuracy and speed of the solutions. CFD simulation software can be applied in a wide range of applications across almost all industrial sectors such as aerospace and defense, biomedical, automotive, buildings, chemicals, electronics, energy, environmental, oil and gas, marine, turbo-machinery, and so on. In this study, an airflow characteristic inside a 2.5” hard disk drive (HDD) is analyzed by STAR-CCM+ simulation software to conceptualize the approach of CFD software to obtain a solution. II. HARD DISK DRIVE MODEL This study investigates a 2.5” notebook HDD whose length, width, and height are 96, 66, and 12.5 mm respectively, and its unoccupied space volume is 23783 mm 3 . It has two disk plates, diameter of each plate is 65 mm, and the distance between them is 1.94 mm. The length, width and height of the filer medium are 15, 7.65, and 2.05 mm respectively, and area of the filter inlet and outlet interfaces are 64.579, and 56.191 mm 2 correspondingly. Figure 1 shows the CAD model of the disk drive. Simulation of the Airflow Characteristic inside a Hard Disk Drive by Applying a Computational Fluid Dynamics Software Chanchal Saha, Huynh Trung Luong, M. H. Aziz, and Tharinan Rattanalert C World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering Vol:4, No:12, 2010 1753 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 4(12) 2010 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/13601 International Science Index, Electrical and Computer Engineering Vol:4, No:12, 2010 waset.org/Publication/13601