Thermal-electrical-mechanical simulation of the nickel densification by Spark Plasma Sintering. Comparison with experiments

•A thermal-electrical-mechanical model has been performed to simulate the SPS process.•With use of SPS tests, the behavior of the porous medium is identified.•Comparisons between SPS tests and simulations validate the approach.•The model is able to capture the stress, temperature and porosity fields in the sample.•Post mortem analyses confirm qualitatively the temperature field in the sample.