Abstract: As China accelerates the construction of a new power system, which helps realize the implementation of the "carbon peak, carbon neutral" strategy, the entire industry has put forward higher requirements for the digitalization and safe operation of the power grid. Based on multi-physics field simulation technology, realizing real-time status monitoring and fault warning of power equipment, improving the digitalization of power equipment, and realizing digital and intelligent operation and maintenance of core power equipment are key issues that need to be solved urgently for the safe operation of power grids. This paper first briefly reviews the development of numerical calculation, including numerical methods, programming languages, and the application in engineering. In the field of electrical engineering, in addition to numerical calculations applied to traditional power system analysis and motor design, the computational high voltage with multi-physics coupling calculation can provide important supplements and support for traditional experimental research, which becomes a research hotspot of power equipment. Then, for the thermal faults, insulation faults, and mechanical faults that are common in the operation of typical power equipment such as transformers, reactors, and bushings, the engineering background, calculation and analysis content, multi-physics coupling model, and key calculation problems, and key material properties are sorted out and analyzed. This paper also points out that the current multi-physics numerical calculations are facing difficulties in material nonlinearity, multi-field coupling accuracy, and fast calculation methods. In addition, the current multi-physics calculation platforms for power equipment, including typical commercial software and open source software, are summarized. This paper points out that the calculation of high-voltage power equipment in China is currently facing a severe situation of software bottlenecks. Finally, from the perspectives of more complex multi-physics processes such as discharge in high-voltage power equipment, new electrical materials, development of high-performance computing methods, and digital twin applications, the research ideas and directions for multi-physics simulation of power equipment are proposed.