Traction between a thin, O(5 μm), tensioned tape and a grooved roller is studied. In the slow tape speed limit, tape contact over a grooved roller is studied analytically. A closed form relationship for the belt-wrap formula for grooved rollers is developed. In this range, air lubrication effects can be negligible and tape-to-roller contact is dominated by tape deflection in the lateral direction. At operational tape transport speeds, O(1-5 m/s), a relatively wide range of design parameters (groove width, land width) and device parameters (velocity and tension) were used to characterize the traction of a thin tape over a grooved roller. It was shown that air lubrication effects reduce the contact force, however the underlying effects of tape mechanics are not entirely eliminated. This work contributes to our understanding of traction mechanics of thin webs over grooved rollers, which has been understudied in the past, and helps in selecting design parameters for improved traction
