The efficient use of pulverized coal is crucial to the utility industries. The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based numerical models has an important role in the design of new boiler furnaces or in retrofitting situations. The results of CFD simulations can be used to better understand the complex processes occurring within the boiler furnace. The use of these results to support boiler operation and training of operators requires that the CFD models can be easily accessed and the results are easily analysed. This paper discusses two ways to simulate the heat transfer process in boiler furnaces. The method directly applying CFD results is employed, in which the grid for solving the energy equation is the same as the flow grid in the CFD simulation while radiation heat transfer is solved in another relatively coarse grid. Comparison of the prediction results between CFD and Heat Transfer code (Simple model) is performed under boiler full load (100%) with one side wall fouling, as well as for different boiler loads (100, 98 and 95 per cent boiler full load, respectively). Finally, the flexible use of the results of CFD and the simple model for pulverized coal-fired boilers is presented. To facilitate the use of the system, a user-friendly interface was developed which enables the user to manipulate new calculations and to view results, namely performing'what-if' analysis. Copyright ~ 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.