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It is shown how the phase field method can be applied to simulate the equiaxed solidification of commercial alloys in technical processes. A multicomponent multiphase field model is coupled to thermodynamic databases. To handle the complex phase diagrams a local quasi-binary extrapolation is applied. Nucleation is treated by statistically distributed seed particles, taking into account the shielding of nucleation sites by recalescence, solute diffusion and growth of solid phases. To reduce computation time it is discussed how three-dimensional phenomena can be approximated by two-dimensional simulations,. and the model for latent heat release is adjusted accordingly. As examples, simulations are presented of the commercial Mg-Al-Zn alloy AZ31. a hypereutectic Al-Si-Cu-Mg-Ni piston alloy and AlCu4Si17Mg. (c) 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.