At present, infrared scene simulation has become an important method for the design and evaluation of infrared imaging guided weapons. On the basis of analyzing the principle of infrared imaging, a real-time infrared scene simulation method of ground tank targets based on OpenGL is proposed and a software for simulation program is compiled. Firstly, a visible light scene is built by OpenGL and the temperature field model of the scene is built by the ANSYS software. Secondly, considering the attenuation effect of the atmosphere between the model and the viewpoint, an atmospheric attenuation model is established by the Modtran software. Finally, the intensity of infrared radiation from each part of the model to the surface of the detector is quantified in gray-level so as to realize the real-time rendering of the visible light scene and obtain the corresponding infrared simulation image. The simulation results show that the system can improve the real-time performance and convenience in the calculation of the infrared radiation distribution of targets and can generate infrared images in different wavebands under different atmospheric environment conditions in real time.