This study investigates the heterogeneous structure and its influence on drag coefficient for concurrent-up gas-solid flow. The energy-minimization multi-scale (EMMS) model is modified to simulate the variation ofstructure parameters with solids concentration, showing the tendency for particles to aggregate to form clusters andfor fluid to pass around clusters. The global drag coefficient is resolved into that for the dense phase, for the dilutephase and for the so-called inter-phase, all of which can be obtained from their respective phase-specific structureparameters. The computational results show that the drag coefficients of the different phases are quite different,and the global drag coefficient calculated from the EMMS approach is much lower than that from the correlationof Wen and Yu. The simulation results demonstrate that the EMMS approach can well describe the heterogeneousflow structure, and is very promising for incorporation into the two-fluid model or the discrete particle model as theclosure law for drag coefficient.