Three passes of slab rolling during vertical–horizontal rolling process were simulated with explicit dynamic FEM by updating geometric method. Simulation model of the next pass was built when the rolling geometry model was updated after previous pass was finished, changing roll gap, material attribution and boundary conditions. The calculated results of the slab shape are in good agreement with the experimental ones. It is shown that the explicit dynamic FEM and updating geometric method can be used effectively to analyze the multi-passes of V–H rolling process.