In order to obtain the comprehensive filtration information, such as the deposition morphology of particles, evolutions of the instantaneous pressure drop and efficiency, 3-D mimic models of fibrous media had been established using a stochastic algorithm and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) - discrete element method (DEM) model was adopted to simulate the gas-solid flow characteristics in fibrous media exposed to particle loading in this work. Meanwhile, the simulation results had been validated by the macro-empirical model proposed in the previous literature. In addition, the influence of various parameters including porosity, face velocity and particle size on the filtration performance of fibrous media had also been investigated. It is concluded that simulation results of the CFD-DEM model are good agreement with predictive values of the macro-empirical model. Moreover, the porosity of fibrous media, face velocity and particle size have an important effect on the filtration performance of the fibrous media. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.