The unsteady-state heat transport was computationally modeled in a multi-zone high-pressure vertical electro-dynamic gradient furnace using the Fluent software package. A 15,000-element, two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric mesh and a 800,000-element 3D mesh were generated to model the solidification of CdZnTe during all phases of crystal growth. Temperature and flow fields were computed, and the effects of several materials properties and design parameters were quantified. The accuracy of the model was verified by experiment using both a graphite test fixture and a simulated load. Finally, the inclusion of a turbulent model to the simulation was shown to affect the gas phases, but not the molten CdZnTe. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.