Abstract: In recent years, numerical simulation technology has become an important method to study the powder compaction process. The discrete element method (DEM) is used to study the mechanical behavior of powder particles from the mesoscopic perspective, analyze the characteristics and evolution process of force chain, and reveal the influence of the mesoscopic structure on the macroscopic properties. The multi-particle finite element method (MPFEM) is used to study the compression deformation mechanisms of the different powders at the particle level. The application and development of DEM and MPFEM on the powder compaction were reviewed in this paper, and the difficulties of MPFEM used in powder compaction were summarized.It was concluded that the study on the evolution law of powder force chain and the mechanism of particle densification under the dynamic loading could be regarded as a prospect for future exploration