The traveling wave ultra-sonic motor (TWUSM) is operated through the frictional force between the rotor and the stator. Hence, the contact mechanism should be analyzed to estimate the motor performance. However, the nonlinearity of the contact mechanism of the TWUSM makes it difficult to propose a proper contact model and a characteristic analysis method. To address these problems, a novel contact model is proposed and be termed the cylindrical dynamic contact model (CDCM) in this research. An estimation method of the motor performance is proposed using the CDCM, an analytical method, and a numerical method. The feasibility and usefulness of the proposed characteristic analysis are verified through experimental data.