A phenomenological erosion model. which captures the effects of impingement velocity, angle, particle size, properties of target, has been developed. The model incorporates removal of material due to both deformation damage and cutting. For the cutting removal, the volume loss has a power-law relation with particle's impingement velocity, angle, mass and size and the exponents depend on the particle's shape (cutting ways). Two critical cases, line cutting and area cutting, indicate that the range of the exponent of impingement velocity is 2 similar to 2.75 which is consistent with the experimental findings. For deformation damage removal, the model indicates that the exponent of the particle's mass is independent on the target material, while the exponents of particle's impingement angle, velocity and density depend on the properties of target material. To validate the model, the simplified version of the model was applied to predict erosion rates, impingement angle where the maximum weight loss occurs and particle size effect. The predictions are in good agreement with the experiments conducted by Finnie. Such models could be used locally together with CFD models to predict erosion and wear patterns under varying flow scenarios. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.