Add to ORKGInternational audienceContact zones are places in structures where the stress and stress fields are very heterogeneous. For the case of metal-metal contacts that is studied here, the size of the macroscopic contact zones is generally small, so that the gradients are very large. The many theoretical solutions that have been developed in the path for a series of problems, most of them in the framework of an elastic behaviour, are fully acceptable to determine global responses. Nevertheless, authors' opinion is that they are limited to explain damage mechanisms, that are very local phenomena. As a consequence, it is important to develop a new class of approach, based on a fine description of the contact geometry and of the material properties....