In the last decade, the use of additive manufacturing processes to produce a variety of metal parts in various fields such as energy production, automobile, and medical sectors has become very widespread. Shortening the lead time, the ability to integrate parts (part consolidation), the production of parts with complex geometry, the production of custom parts, and the excellent metallurgical and mechanical properties of printed parts are among the capabilities of these technologies. Selective laser melting process (SLM) is one of the most popular methods among these technologies, which is based on the melting of the powder bed surface using a scanning laser beam. The rapid movement of the laser beam on the powder bed surface causes the laser energy to be absorbed, melting the powder particles and formation of the melt pool, and ending with rapid solidification of scanned area. Extremely high temperature gradients and large thermal strains created during the process may cause defects such as residual stresses and possible distortion in the manufactured parts. Therefore, a full understanding of these stresses and the affecting factors is critical for fabricating sound parts with desired geometry. In the present study, the prediction of residual stresses and their resulting deformations in SLM manufactured parts has been studied using the intrinsic strain method. Simufact additive commercial software has been used for the simulation. Production of a number of benchmark parts from AISI 316L stainless steel material has been simulated. The effects of geometric dimensions, fabrication orientation, process parameters (i.e. laser scanning speed and laser power), and heat tratment on residual stresses have been studied. In order to apply the calibration coefficients in the stress estimation by the software, the suggested standard components were designed and fabricated using the optimal process parameters and the island scanning pattern. The benchmark parts were produced in the form of thin rectangular plates in horizontal and vertical fabrication directions with the same process parameters applied for the calibration parts. X-ray diffraction method was used to estimate the stress in the produced parts. The results of numerical simulation of residual stress and distortion were consistent with experimental results. According to the results, the part made vertically has a residual stress and less distortion than the horizontal position due to its shorter scan length. In addition, stress relief heat treatment reduces the residual stress in the horizontal section by 72%. It is found that reducing the thickness of the part reduces the stress, higher power and speed lower than the defined value increases the residual stress and consequently increases the distortion in the part. In addition, it was observed that changing the thickness of the fabrication base-plate has no effect on the results. This study is an introduction to predicting residual stresses generated at the macro scale for functional components. The results of this study help in selecting the building direction and processing parameters to control unwanted stresses during metal 3D printing. Keywords: Additive manufacturing, Selective laser melting process, Residual stress and distortion, Simufact additive software