Abstract: A ladle thermal tracking model was established for the whole steel working process, from steelmaking to continue casting. The ladle thermal tracking model was modified by using the inverse heat transfer problem, which combined ladle thermal status testing and ladle heat transfer numerical simulation. With the ladle thermal tracking model some factors influencing molten steel temperature were analyzed such as new ladle preheating time, cooling time, off-line preheating time and the wear of the work wall and bottom linings of the ladle. It is shown that the molten steel temperature drop in the new ladle first thermal circulation reduces by 15.6℃ when the new ladle preheating time increases from 480 min to 780 min. When the ladle cooling time is 540 min, the molten steel temperature drops 14.6℃ more than that of a normal turnover ladle. The longer the ladle cooling time is, the stronger the effect of off-line preheating time on the molten steel temperature drop is. When the ladle cooling time is 540 min, 240 min off-line preheating could reduce the molten steel temperature drop by 11.0℃. The wearing of the ladle linings would increase the molten steel temperature drop no more than 9.3℃.