Load Capacity and Time Relations for Squeeze Films

The transient load capacity of a fluid film between two surfaces having a relative normal velocity is often of importance and the term squeeze film applied to such a situation is an accurate and descriptive one. Although the subject is far from new in the literature of lubrication it does not seem to have been treated very fully by any one author. It is the purpose here to show how the transient load capacity and the time to change thickness of various film configurations can be calculated and to catalog a number of results of practical interest some of which do not seem to have been given previously. There is also an interesting analogy to the torsion problem and to the problem of the flow of viscous fluids in prismatical tubes which is described.