Abstract—Contact zone has a major effect on machine stiffness. For an accurate calculation, the contact stiffness should be known. This paper presents the approach to determine the elastic characteristic of the contact layer formed by two rough surfaces. Factors affected the shape of contact surfaces and the existing methods of its modelling are put into consideration and a new model of contact surface profile is proposed. The determination of elastic characteristic was made by computing microscale simulation of contact zone unit volume deformation under a compressive force. The simulation was performed using the Finite Elements Method. The average contact properties were obtained as the result of multiple randomized simulations. The simulation of contact layer compression shows that the contact stiffness almost linearly decreases with the increasing of the mean spacing of profile irregularities and the decreasing of the mean waviness height.