In this paper, based on analysis of the chemical and physical processes of clinker formation, a heat flux function was introduced to take account of the thermal effect of clinker formation. Combining the models of gas-solid flow, heat and mass transfer, and pulverized coal combustion, a set of mathematical models for a full-scale cement rotary kiln were established. In terms of commercial CFD code (FLUENT), the distributions of gas velocity, gas temperature, and gas components in a cement rotary kiln were obtained by numerical simulation of a 3000 t/d rotary kiln with a four-channel burner. The predicted results indicated that the improved model accounts for the thermal enthalpy of the clinker formation process and can give more insight ( uch as fluid flow, temperature, etc,) from within the cement rotary kiln, which is a benefit to better understanding of combustion behavior and an improvement of burner and rotary kiln technology.