Particle mixing caused by grate movement in a packed bed of solids is an important process for biomass combustion and waste incineration. In this paper, a diffusion model for particle mixing in a burning bed is proposed and the related diffusion coefficient is measured. The diffusion model was incorporated into a combustion model for waste incineration in an actual full-scale bed and numerical calculations were carried to assess the effect of different mixing levels on the burning characteristics of the furnace. In-bed measurement of temperature, oxygen concentration and particle movement was also made using a special electronic device. It is found that the modelled flame front reaches the bed bottom at an earlier stage for a higher level of particle mixing; the average burning rate ranges from 0.05 to 0.13 kg/m(2) s and the mass loss rate for a higher mixing level can be twice of that for a lower mixing level. However, excessive mixing can cause significant delay in ignition or even extinction of the bed combustion; the obtained local air to fuel stoichiometric ratio covers a range from substoichiometric (0.6 for the highest mixing level) to super-stoichiometric (1.6 for the lowest mixing level); the carbon in ash ranges from 3.5 to 10.5%; the most reasonable range of the particle-mixing (diffusion) coefficient is from 1.8 to 6.0 cm(2)/min for a full-scale bed, according to the calculation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.