A strategy using a mixed domain decomposition technique is discussed in the case of problems involving a large number of degrees of freedom. The implementation, on parallel computers, of this ''mechanical'' strategy which splits the structure into substructures and interfaces is presented. Several industrial-type examples, in the case of elastic behaviour and frictional contact, show the interesting features and the capabilities of such an approach. The numerical behaviour on different computers of the iterative procedure and comparisons with the direct resolution method are also presented.