Based on the results of cone penetration laboratory tests on alumina balls, glass balls and Toyoura sand, the discrete element method (DEM) was used to simulate cone penetration process. Compared the numerical simulation with experimental results, the curves of simulation have the same tendency as those of penetration experiment, which indicates that DEM can effectively simulate the force between particles, the force between a particle and the cone when the cone is penetrating, and get the reasonable macroscopic characteristics. Both the simulation and the penetration experiment indicate that the penetration resistance decreased with the increase of the porosity. Finally, the influences on the numerical simulation，caused by the variation of mesoscopic parameters, penetration speed, quantities of the particles and particle shape, were analyzed. 