Identifying the process variables that are important to ensuring the production of high quality ingots intended to make railway wheels and axles can be done through costly experimentation, or by numerical simulations. Using MAGMASOFT® software, we created a base model. The base model was validated in three different ways, using results from production to compare against the simulation. Process parameters were then varied to determine if the changes were beneficial or detrimental to conditions such as porosity, pipe and segregation.Copyright © 2008 by ASME