Comprehensive understanding of thermomechanical response and microstructure evolution during surface severe plastic deformation (S 2 PD) is important towards establishing controllable processing frameworks. In this study, the evolution of crystallographic textures during directional surface mechanical attrition treatment on copper was studied and modelled using the visco-plastic self-consistent framework. In situ high-speed imaging and digital image correlation of surface deformation in circular indentation were employed to elucidate mechanics occurring in a unit process deformation and to calibrate texture model parameters. Material response during directional surface mechanical attrition was simulated using a finite-element model coupled with the calibrated texture model. The crystallographic textures developed during S 2 PD were observed to be similar to those resultant from uniaxial compression. The implications of these results towards facilitating a processing-based framework to predict deformation mechanics and resulting crystallographic texture in S 2 PD configurations are briefly discussed.