Thermal models for the simulation of Stirling engines need to have greater accuracy along with simple and low-cost calculation. In this regard, a new closed-form thermal model was presented for the thermal simulation of Stirling engines. The new model called PFST (polytropic-finite speed thermodynamics) was developed based on the combination of polytropic analysis of expansion/compression processes and the concept of finite speed thermodynamics (FST). Therefore, compression/expansion works of compression/expansion processes and transferred heat into the heater of Stirling engines were determined based on polytropic analysis, instead of isothermal processes of the ideal Stirling cycle. The calculated work of polytropic processes was corrected to include the effects of internal irreversibilities including pressure throttling in heat exchangers, mechanical friction, and finite motion of the pistons. Output power and thermal efficiency of Stirling engines were calculated as functions of various engine parameters. The developed PFST model was implemented on a prototype Stirling engine, called GPU-3 engine, and the obtained results were compared with those of other closed-form and numerical models as well as experimental data. It was found that the new closed-form model, in addition to its simple and low-cost calculation, had the same order of accuracy as recently developed numerical models. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.