Material erosion due to particle impingement has drawn extensive attention in oil and gas industries. During fracturing process, the high-speed impact of particles entrained in fracturing fluid system result in severe tool damage. Erosion behavior is a complex process and is affected by many parameters, such as particle velocity, particle size, impact angle, and target material properties. Simulating the dynamic erosion process is helpful to understand the erosion behavior of target materials and to predict the erosion phenomenon under different working conditions. In this paper, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed using multiple-particle impact model in a 3D configuration. The numerical model considered the material damping and elastic-plastic behavior of the target material. The effects of strain hardening and rate were considered in the non-linear material model. The influences of impact parameters on the erosion characteristics were investigated. Experiments were conducted to supplement the study of erosion mechanisms. Comprehensive studies show that the dynamic erosion mechanisms, which can provide guidance for optimizing process parameters, decrease the erosion rate obtained. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.