Secondary cooling control is the key factor for stabilizing and enhancing slab quality in continuous casting. In view of practical importance of critical boundary conditions in offline or online simulation and control during continuous casting process, accurate estimation for heat transfer coefficient of secondary cooling zone is of utmost significance. To optimize the cooling process and temperature behavior of continuous casting slab, a novel method was presented to predict the heat transfer behavior in secondary cooling process. This approach applies the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm in conjunction with the mathematical heat transfer model and the experimental temperature to determine the heat transfer coefficient. Through verifying the validity and efficiency of the integrated method proposed, the temperature variation of slab surface is more coincident with measured temperatures along the casting direction. The calculation results confirm that the heat transfer coefficient could be estimated precisely with measurement temperatures using PSO algorithm. The combined approach offers an applicable technology for optimization of cooling strategy and solidifying process in continuous casting. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.