The dipping experiment was carried out by putting the water-cooled copper plate into the stannum-lead alloy to simulate the process of initial solidification of steel, and the result that the heat transfer of original shell improved by grooving on the surface of the water-cooled copper plate was investigated. A mathematical model of heat transfer was set up and the temperature field of casting slab 1000 mm×200mm was calculated. The experimentation and simulation results indicate that the inside-grooved mould could improve the heat transfer of original shell, decrease the non-uniformity of original shell thickness and reduce the longitudinal surface cracks of casting slab.