In the present study, a 3D hybrid method, which couples the finite element region with guided elastic wave modes, is formulated to investigate the scattering by a non‐axisymmetric crack in a welded steel pipe. The algorithm is implemented on a parallel computing platform. Implementation is facilitated by the dynamic memory allocation capabilities of Fortran 90™ and the parallel processing directives of OpenMp™. The algorithm is validated against available numerical results. The agreement with a previous 2D hybrid model is excellent. Novel results are presented for the scattering of the first longitudinal mode from different non‐axisymmetric cracks. The trend of the new results is consistent with the previous findings for the axisymmetric case. The developed model has potential application in ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation of welded steel pipes. © 2003 American Institute of Physics