cylinder leads to an understanding of the effects of increasing curvature on the wave propagation finally analysis of the tapered spiral allows us to understand the coupled influence of increasing curvature and decreasing cross sectional area on wave propagation and reflection the embedded wavy material is a also a geometric effect that plays a critical role in structures under dynamic loads the embedded wavy material or gap is compared to a baseline embedded straight line showing the much greater dissipation by way of lower pressures and lower impulses with the exception of the simple cylinder obtaining exact solutions for these geometries is unpractical if not impossible furthermore the main goal of this analysis was to provide more of a qualitative understanding of how the transients are affected by only geometric differences for these reasons a purely computational approach employing the finite element fe method has been chosen to study the wave propagation and reflection characteristics of these bodies the fe method is the most efficient technique to perform these types of studies and has become a widely accepted analysis tool see for example demma a cawley p lowe m pavlakovic b the effect of bends on the propagation of guided waves in pipes journal of pressure vessel technology transactions of the asme 2005 127 328 gavric l computation of propagative waves in free rail using a finite element technique journal of sound and vibration 1995 185 531 treyss u00e8de f elastic waves in helical waveguides wave motion 2008 45 457 mace b r duhamel d brennan m j hinke l finite element prediction of wave motion in.