Guided Wave Propagation in Bend Pipes using Split Domain FEM Approach

Ultrasonic Guided Wave inspection of pipes has been extensively used in various industries such as oil, gas and petrochemical industries. The behavior of guided waves in straight pipes is well known but the presence of features like pipe bends, welds may distort the receiving signals. It is therefore a challenging task to study the behavior of guided waves through these features. However, the 3D finite element (FE) simulations can be used to study the guided wave interaction with these features but the size of the FE model increases if we are using very high frequency and very low velocity materials, thereby increasing the computational resources. This paper reports a new technique called Split Domain FEM approach for simulation guided waves in complex geometries with limited computational resources. This method involves splitting the larger FE model into smaller sub-models and analyzing them individually. The feasibility of this approach is illustrated by an example case of 3D FE simulation of guided wave propagation in a bend pipe by splitting it into three sub models (straight, bend and straight). The results obtained from the conventional and split approach showed good agreement.