In a variety of industrial, geotechnical and agricultural applications the handling, the modification and the storage of granular material is indispensable. Recently, research concentrates on how to describe numerically the behaviour of granular material to avoid expensive and time consuming trials. One approach is the discrete element method (DEM), which is based on the fundamental assumption that a solid consists of separate, discrete particles. The more realistic parameter values and precise contact models are used, the more the macroscopic response is precise. Two difficult to determine inter-particle properties, the particle contact stiffness and the coefficient of restitution (COR) play an important role. First, the contact stiffness is analysed to define by which means it can be determined experimentally. For that, also a specific measurement method was tested to obtain values for a particle-particle and particle-wall contact. Then the experimental values are compared to literature and commonly used values, like the Hertzian contact stiffness. Further, its possible influence on numerical results is discussed. Then, for characterisation of the restitution coefficient a drop test is designed and constructed which allows the free fall from a height of 300 mm under vacuum or atmospheric pressure. By these means, the evolution of COR is investigated for varying impact velocities and particle diameters as well as different process conditions.weiterlesen