Residual elastic strains were measured by neutron diffraction using POLDI facility at PSI-Switzerland on pre-loaded notched flat tensile specimens made of the high-chromium tempered martensitic steel F82H-mod steel. To calculate the residual stresses using Hooke’s equation, three perpendicular components of the residual strain field were determined. The measured residual strains and stresses were compared with those deduced from finite element simulation calculations. A very good agreement was found for the strains in the loading plane of the specimen while a somewhat larger discrepancy was observed for the out-of-plane residual strain, which was tentatively attributed to an uncertainty in the initial lattice spacing in that direction