Optimal computation of guided wave propagation and scattering in pipeworks comprising elbows: Numerical and experimental validations and parametric studies

Simulation tools of guided wave (GW) examination are developed at CEA to help inspection design and results interpretation. In a previous paper [M. El Bakkali, A. Lhemery, V. Baronian and F. Berthelot, (AIP Conf. Proc. 1581), pp. 332-9 (2014)], a model was developed to deal with GW propagation in elbows, GW scattering at the junction of a straight and a curved guides and GW multiple-scattering by an elbow joined to two straight pipes. The method is computationally optimal: many results are obtained by fast post-processing. Modes in the straight and curved guides are computed once by the semi-analytic finite element method; this implies solving two systems of equations over their shared cross-section meshed by FE. Scattering at a junction of straight and curved pipes requires computing surface integrals over the same section for applying the mode-matching method. For varying elbow angle, computing scattering coefficients of the straight-curved-straight double junction requires multiplying scattering matric...