The normal (NFD) and tangential contact forces (TFD) between viscoelastic ellipsoidal particles are studied based on the contact mechanics and finite element method. It is found that the NFD and TFD force models previously formulated for spheres are valid for ellipsoidal particles and non-spherical particles of smooth surface, provided that some variables in the models are properly considered. The applicability of the NFD and TFD models are demonstrated in the collisions of two viscoelastic ellipsoids and shown to agree well with the results calculated by means of the finite element method. As part of the study, the applicability of the Linear-Spring-Dashpot (LSD) model which is widely used in the discrete modeling is also examined, and its limitation is identified. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.