Apple, having the second ranking of country production after citrus, is one of the major orchard products of Iran. Iran, being forth apple producing country, has a large portion in exporting this product. Therefore, it is necessary for Iran to preserve and improve its place among apple producing countries by increasing quantity and quality of the fruit. Minimizing mechanical damage during harvest and postharvest operations is one of the main factors increasing apple fruit quality. There are little studies on apple handling in Iran, thus harvesting, traortation and packaging of apple is performed mostly by hand labor. More research can, therefore, encourage the producers to adopt mechanization of these stages and subsequently more commercial production and more revenue. In this study, some physical and rheological properties of three apple varieties (Kahanz Golab, Jonagold and Fuji) at three harvest dates were determined using confined and unconfined compression tests. The firmness of apple flesh and skin was also measured using a penetrating prob. Using a specialized direct shear box, shear strength of the flesh was also measured. Spherical indenter and parallel plate tests were performed in order to study apple susceptibility to bruising at four loading levels (1, 2, 3 and 4 mm) and the bruise volume was then measured after 24 hours. Threshold of degree of elasticity and of absorbed energy for avoiding mechanical damage to apple was determined. The bruise susceptibility of the three apple varieties was compared using bruise and bruise harmonic indices, bruise susceptibility and bruise resistance criteria. Finally, Kahanz Golab apple of the first harvest under quasi-static loading was simulated assuming elastic and visco-elastic behaviors using obtained parameters. Stress, strain and absorbed energy at failure (mechanical properties measured using compression test on cylindrical samples), the maximum penetrating force (penetration test on intact fruit) and the shear strength of the fruit flesh (measured using direct shear box) were mostly affected by apple variety and harvest date. The results indicated that the minimum and maximum values of the measured parameters were obtained for Kahanz Golab and Fuji apples, respectively. Comparing bruise volume of three apple varieties in three harvest dates, it was concluded that the bruise susceptibility increased along with the fruit maturity. Fuji apple demonstrated the highest resistance to mechanical damages compared to the others. Failure criterion for apple flesh in tested apples was maximum shear stress. Modeling of apple as a visco-elastic sphere in Abaqus software assuming constant bulk modulus could properly simulate apple behavior under quasi-static loading. Keywords: Kahanz Golab apple, Jonagold, Fuji, physical property, rheological property, firmness, shear strength, finite element