A filtration model for wall-flow particulate filters based on the theory of packed beds of spherical particles is presented to diagnose the combined response of filtration efficiency and pressure drop from a reliable computation of the flow field and the porous media properties. The model takes as main assumption the experimentally well-known low soot penetration thickness inside the porous wall. The analysis of soot loading processes in different particulate filters shows the ability of the proposed approach to predict the filtration efficiency as a function of the particle size distribution. Nevertheless, pressure drop and overall filtration efficiency are determined by the mode diameter of the raw particulate matter emission. The results reveal the dependence of the filtration efficiency in clean conditions on the sticking coefficient. However, the dynamics of the pressure drop and filtration efficiency as the soot loading varies is governed by the soot penetration thickness. This parameter is closely related to the porous wall Peclet number, which accounts for the porous wall and flow properties influence on the deposition process. The effect of the transition from deep bed to cake filtration regime on the pressure drop is also discussed underlying the importance of the macroscale over microscale phenomena. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.