The hydrodynamic disk braking by an axisymmetric curved disk of arbitrary shape is investigated. A viscous fluid separates a rotating flat bottom disk and a non-rotating axisymmetric curved upper disk. As the two disks are squeezed closer together, increased viscous torque is transmitted to the rotating bottom disk. A perturbation method is used to solve the governing equations of motion for small values of the parameter which is the ratio of the gapwidth to the radius of the disk. Constant force squeezing state is considered to study the braking characteristics, when the bottom disk rotates with constant angular velocity. It is observed that the curvature of the top disk strongly influences the braking characteristics. © 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.