An analysis of the effective thermal contact resistance between two semi-infinite solids in the presence of a periodic array of rough zones at the interface is carried out on the basis of a solution of the corresponding thermoelastic contact problem. The effect of the roughness is modeled by localized thermal contact resistances varying inversely with the contact pressure. The contact problem is reduced to a nonlinear singular integrodifferential equation, and an iterative procedure is proposed for its solving. The results demonstrate that the periodic array of rough zones between two semi-infinite solids exhibits thermal rectification. It is also found that the effective temperature jump and the effective thermal contact resistance are nonlinear functions of a far field heat flux. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.