Uniaxial compression behavior of porous copper samples having a wide range of initial porosity prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) process is presented. Simple analytical model is developed for evolution of porosity and flow stress during uniaxial compression based on the Gurson model which was initially developed for low porosity solids (<10%) having simple pore geometry. A unique linear relationship was observed for normalized porosity (porosity/initial porosity) with strain and normalized flow stress (flow stress/flow stress of matrix). The model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results over a wide range of porosity (2–25%) and strain (0–0.26). Furthermore, a new model for strain hardening rate is developed which explains the significant strain hardening observed in the uniaxial compression tests. The observed strain hardening rate of the porous samples depends not only on the strain hardening rate of the matrix material but also on the extent of pore closure during compression. While the relative contribution of the strain hardening rate of the matrix largely dominates the observed response, the contribution due to pore closure is significant for samples with high initial porosity, especially at higher values of strain. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd