Many numerical models have been developed to model the particle dynamics in the electrostatic precipitators in recent years. These models employ various particle charging models including field charging theory, diffusion charging theory and combined field-diffusion theory. These various charging models have different accuracy and require different amount of computational time. This work constructed a numerical model of the electrostatic precipitator and nine particle charging models were evaluated based on the existing experimental results. The results show that predictions of the constant charging models are higher than that of the non-constant models but differ little for the sub-micrometer particles. In the field-diffusion combining models, the one developed by Lawless (1996) should be the first choice relatively for numerical models of the particle dynamics in electrostatic precipitators. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.