Guided wave inspection has the advantage of providing full volumetric coverage of tens of metres of pipe from a single test location. However, guided wave behaviour is complex. There are many factors to consider such as the numerous possible vibrational modes, dispersion and multiple reflections. The guided wave inspection technique is potentially immensely valuable for unpiggable sections of pipeline such as at cased road crossings. However, in situations such as this, there are often bends in the pipe. The presence of the bend is known to distort the received signals, particularly in tight bends. In order to address this issue, a study has been carried out that uses finite element analysis to understand the behaviour of guided waves in a relatively tight pipe bend example.
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