Based on the analysis of energy balance during the oxygen cutting process, a new composite heat source model has been established by investigating the interaction of the Gaussian area heat source and the thermogenesis heat source. With element birth and death feature, the finite element analysis (FEA) of oxygen cutting was performed. A non-contact temperature method - Infrared Thermography System was used for surface temperature measurement. The simulation heat source model was corrected with the experimentally measured values. The final numerical results of temperature distribution are in good agreement with experiment results. This indicates that the corrected heat source model developed in this study can simulate the oxygen cutting accurately. The proposed method presents a valuable reference for the study of similar thermal process. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.