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Abstract. Cold Roll Forming (CRF) is one of the most productive processes for manufacturing thin-walled products with constant cross section. It consists in a continuous bending operation of a long metal sheet. The sheet is gradually formed through pairs of rotating rolls (called stations) until the desired cross-sectional configuration is obtained (see Fig. 1). The CRF process is widely used in aerospace, construction, automotive and other industries with large production volumes [1]. Roll-forming processes gained high interest in the industry to form Ultra-High Strength Steels (UHSS). These steel grades permit to pursue advanced structural optimization and to achieve lighter design solutions. The extensive application of roll forming can be due to its increased deformation capability and the limitations of UHSS when formed through traditional stamping processes [2]. However, CRF remains a complex process and it is affected by different problems, such as wave, torsion, twist or bow defects and elastic spring back [3]. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is employed at the industrial level as an efficient and economical tool to examine the process. The objectives of this research are: (a) to develop a Finite Element (FE) model using the commercial software to simulate the cold roll-forming process of a U-shaped profile and then to validate it through a correlation with the experiment; (b) to be representative of defect during manufacturing process and help industrial to correct them; (c) to better understand the effects of the manufacturing process on the performance of the final product. The use of a commercial FE software (LS-Dyna) makes simple the process of integrating strain and stress fields due to manufacturing into existent FE models.