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The study investigates the applicability of a kinetic-theory-based model for granular flows to simulate the interaction of a shock wave with a dispersed medium using the OpenFOAM solver blastEulerFoam. The kinetic model was benchmarked against experimental measurements and the Baer–Nunziato (BN) model, which is widely employed for granular dynamics in shock-wave propagation. Numerical simulations revealed significant discrepancies between the kinetic theory model and both experimental observations and BN results. The primary source of the divergence is the omission in the kinetic model of the dependence of granular pressure on particle volume fraction and inter-particle friction, leading to inaccurate predictions of compaction effects. In contrast, the BN model incorporates a strong coupling between particle volume fraction and frictional interactions, providing results that better agree with experimental data.In the numerical experiments, blastEulerFoam was used to solve the Eulerian–Eulerian equations with kinetic-theory granular closures. Gas properties (γ = 1.4, µ = 1.81 × 10−5 Pa·s) and dispersed-phase parameters (particle diameter is 0.05 mm, αmax = 0.63) were specified. The radial distribution function was taken from the Sinclair–Jackson model, while inter-particle friction was modeled using the Johnson–Jackson formulation. Simulations were performed on a 2-D grid with a 0.5 mm cell size, imposing a constant air inflow over the wall. Compaction angles ψ and ϕ were computed and compared with experimental data and BN predictions. The kinetic-theory model yielded ψ values between 2.3 and 2.7, higher than the experimental range of 1.5–1.8, an over-prediction of compaction. These findings highlight the limitations of model for shock-wave compaction and call for investigation under conditions, including inter-particle interaction and packing density.