The coating spray speed and the convective heat transfer have significant effects on transient thermal stress in TBCs (Thermal Barrier Coating system) during the cooling process of fabrication. In this work, a simplified analytical model is developed firstly, to predict the transient thermal stress in YSZ (ZrO2-8%Y2O3) coating and shear stress at the coating-substrate interface during the cooling process of fabrication. Then, based on this simplified model, the effects of coating spray speed which determines the initial temperature field of YSZ coating, and the convective heat transfer coefficient between YSZ coating and the environment on transient thermal stress in TBCs during the cooling process have been studied. The results indicate that the YSZ coating spray speed has a significant effect on the transient thermal stress in YSZ coating and the shear stress near the edge of YSZ-substrate interface; effect of convective heat transfer on the thermal stress is more significant when convective heat transfer coefficient is bigger enough, and for a given convective heat transfer the effect becomes smaller as the cooling down process going on. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.