One of the bottlenecks of the blast furnace (BF) campaign is the life length of hearth bottom. The basic reason for the erosion of hearth bottom is its direct contact with hot metal. According to the theory of heat transfer, models of BF hearth bottom are built based on the actual examples using software and VC language, and the calculated results are in good agreement with the data of BF dissection after blowing out. The temperature distribution and the capability of the resistance to erosion for different structures of hearth bottom are analyzed, especially the two prevalent kinds of hearth bottom arrangements called "the method of heat transfer" for all-carbon brick bottom and "the method of heat isolation" for ceramic synthetic hearth bottom. Features of the two kinds of hearth bottoms are analyzed. Also the different ways of protecting the hearth bottom are clarified, according to some actual examples. After that, the same essence of prolonging life, and the fact that the existence of a "protective skull" with low thermal conductivity between the hot metal and brick layers is of utmost importance are shown.