Abstract: The crushing specific work of coal is an important parameter to characterize the energy demand for coal mass crush during outburst process. In order to study the energy transfer law and crushing specific energy of particle coal under compression experimental conditions, taking coal samples from five typical coal mines as the research objects, the single-particle coal compression experiments and PFC^2D numerical simulations were carried out to study the energy distribution and dissipation during the crushing process. The distribution of crack propagation inclination angle were studied, and the relationship between the crushing specific work and the consistent coefficient of coal was studied as well. The results show that there is a certain linear increase relationship between the crushing specific work and the consistent coefficient of coal. The linear slope of the crushing specific work of 4 to 6 mm particle coal is greater than that of 6 to 8 mm particle coal, indicating that the crushing specific work of particle coal increases with decreasing particle size. During the same loading stage, the number of micro-cracks decreases as the particle size of coal increases. Micro-cracks will form in coal particles with diameters of 5 mm and 7 mm when the energy exceeds 1.58×10^-6 J and 1.37×10^-6 J, respectively. During the particle fragmentation process, the distribution of crack dip angles is concentrated within the range of 75° to 115°. In the failure stage, the dip angle of macro-cracks in coal particles decreases as the particle diameter increases. This research will provide theoretical and experimental data support for predicting the risk of coal and gas outbursts using the crushing specific work of coal.