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Thermal cracking of hydrocarbons for olefin production is normally carried out in long reactor tubes suspended in a large gas fired furnace. In this paper, a coupled furnace-reactor mathematical model based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique is developed to simulate the complex fluid dynamics phenomena in the thermal cracking furnace. The model includes mass transfer, momentum transfer, and heat transfer, as well as thermal cracking reactions, fuel combustion and radiative heat transfer. The rationality and reliability of the mathematical model is confirmed by the approximate agreement of predicted data and industrial data. The coupled furnace-reactor simulation revealed the details of both the transfer and reaction processes taking place in the thermal cracking furnace. The results indicate highly nonuniform distribution of the flue-gas velocity, concentration and temperature in the furnace, which cause nonuniform distribution of tube skin temperature and heat flux of the reactor tubes. Profiles of oil-gas velocity, pressure, temperature and product yields in the lengthwise direction of the reactor tube are obtained. Furthermore, in the radial direction steep velocity and temperature gradients and relatively slight gradients of species concentration are found. In conclusion, the model can provide more information on the fluid dynamics and reaction behavior in the thermal cracking furnace, and guidance for the design and improvement of thermal cracking furnaces.