A model for asperity contacts at the head/disk interface has been developed that allows for elastic asperity deformations based on an experimentally derived function for the contact pressure. The model predicts the distributed contact pressure, the contact force and the apparent area of contact on the air bearing surface of the slider. A second approach that assumes entirely rigid asperities is employed to verify the asymptotic behavior of the contact force as the asperity stiffness increases. Further results are reported for the elastic asperity method and the dependence of the contact force, contact area and flying height on various operating conditions is investigated. The comparison between numerical calculations and experimental results shows excellent qualitative agreement.Presented as a Society of Tribologlsts and Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/STLE Tribology Conference in San Francisco, California, October 13–17, 1996