摘要：Although numerical simulation tools are now very powerful,the development of analytical models is very important for the prediction of the mechanical behaviour of line contact structures for deeply understanding contact problems and engineering *** the line contact structures widely used in the engineering field,few analytical models are available for predicting the mechanical behaviour when the structures deform plastically,as the classic Hertz’s theory would be ***,the present study proposed an elastic-plastic model for line contact structures based on the understanding of the yield mechanism.A mathematical expression describing the global relationship between load history and contact width evolution of line contact structures was *** proposed model was verified through an actual line contact test and a corresponding numerical *** results confirmed that this model can be used to accurately predict the elastic-plastic mechanical behaviour of a line contact structure.