Heat accumulation and consequential thermal residual stresses are the most challenging obstacles in the metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes. Accordingly, an understanding of the relation between various process parameters and residual stress evolution needs to be addressed in metal AM. Therefore, this article investigates adaptive layer-wise heat-input in gas metal arc-based additive manufacturing (GMA-WAAM) through the finite element method. A 3D finite element model has been developed using Mechanical Advanced Parametric Design Language of Ansys® software. A reduced current heat-input strategy has been adopted, i.e. the current is reduced for every next layer until the fourth layer. It is repeated for the next set of four layers. The effect of the proposed framework has been studied on the single-track eight-layered thin wall geometry. Further, experiments have been performed to validate the developed model. A good agreement has been found between predicted and experimental results. Moreover, the developed framework has been found as an effective strategy to control the evolution of accumulated heat and distortion in the substrate. A significant decrease in the maximum temperature was attained during the layer-wise deposition, i.e. 11.29% and 15.09% for the first and second sets of four layers.