In this study, a simulation method was developed to investigate the compression behavior of dust cakes. Unlike previous studies on the compression behavior of dust cakes, this study considered the effect of particle size on the compression behavior of dust cakes composed of monodisperse aerosols to develop the simulation method into a more general but complex case of cake filtration using polydisperse aerosols. Simulation results clearly show that adhesion, friction and compression forces acting on a particle play a major role in determining the compression behavior of dust cakes. Likewise, smaller particles tend to cause larger pressure drop through dust cakes composed of monodisperse aerosols at the same extent of particle deposition in mass areal density. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.