Recent work by the authors and others on the lubrication of elastic rollers is briefly reviewed. The full effects of speed over a wide range and of lubricant compressibility are presented for the first time. Speed is shown to be the most important variable in the problem. Compressibility has little effect on the film thickness, but it may alter the pressure distribution appreciably.

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h en the hydrodynamic problem of cy linder lubrication is considered, tw o distin ct ty pes of solution emerge. For light loads th e cylinders retain th eir unl oaded geome try; the Marlin solution fo r th is condition is well kn own . Wh en th e contact forces are large, significant elastic deformation may occur ; th e resultin g elastohy drody namic regim e has been ext ensively analyzed in recent years.Equa tion s are now available for the calculatio n of min imum film thi ckn ess in th e "ri gid " and " elastic " situations. In thi s paper com puting m eth ods app ropriat e to each range of conditions are summarized, and th e natur e of th e solutions is considered in some detail . In particular the valid ran ge of application of th e " rigid" and "elastic" film thi ckn ess relation ships is discussed , An inte rm ediat e range of conditions between the "ri gid" and " elastic" regimes is defined .Finally, a chart is present ed to enable a parti cular problem to be located in th e "rigid," " interm ediat e," or "e lastic" zone s.