The stress behaviour of particle beds describes the relationship between the forces acting on the particle bed and the total energy input supplied. The stress behaviour is closely related to the compaction of the particle bed, which has to be distinguished into a purely elastic and purely plastic deformation. The elastic deformation can be characterized by the elasticity E of the particle bed as a material-specific parameter which is different to the E-modulus of solids. The description of the purely plastic deformation of a particle bed allows to deduce a model of the stress behaviour. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.