Inspection of practical plate assemblies is challenging due to the presence of complex features such as bends and corners. The objective is to investigate the influence of bends or curvature in the transverse direction on the propagation of guided waves in plates. A 3D finite element (FE) simulation shows that bends in plates can concentrate and guide ultrasonic energy along the direction of wave propagation. An interesting feature-guided mode that is surprisingly similar to the A0 (fundamental antisymmetric) Lamb mode in normal plates was identified when the bent plate is subjected to 'in-plane' excitation as the generation of this type of mode for a thicknesswise symmetric excitation is unexpected. These results are validated with experiments and discussed using Semi Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) models. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.