Temperature in a continuous annealing furnace is studied by furnace modelling using two methods. A 3D model is used to investigate the temperature distribution of the steel strip that is being annealed and the furnace thermocouple probes, and information from the 3D model enables the construction of a highly simplified 1D/2D model, which predicts furnace and strip temperatures with very good agreement to the 3D model. The simple model has a very short solution time and is suitable for rapid simulation of alternative furnace operating conditions in order to optimise heat treatment quality, plant throughput and energy consumption. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.