Well, there is seldom any problem with guessing (more accurately, making well-founded assumptions based on experience and based on reasonable extrapolations from previously tested models) ... But.
A FEA model is best used within its rannge of accuracy: nothing can come closer to showing the high stress areas when a good, close-fitting model is subjected to outside strains. Then what?
Well, the usual FEA model exaggerates the movement (distortion) from an original shape to a distorted shape based on outside forces. The exaggerated movement (strain, thus stress) is usually shown in colors - but those forces are applied up to the elastic limit, within the 2% limit for permanent plastic deformation in all the results I've seen. (Which is NOT a large sample of more than a few 100's, mind you!) Pipe bending will be at least to a 90 degree permanent angle, permanently stretching the steel wall well past the small movement where the "rules" of the FEA equations from cell to cell apply. For example, what happens to the FEA "cubes" when the material moves through the first FEA box all the way through the next 24 into a 25th "cube"? Is the original equation of strain in one cell that affects adjacent cells still valid when there is no material left "in" the first, second, or third cell?
Will FEA be accurate over that large a movement? Before we assume it will, we should (I would, at least) actually test the validity of the model over the range in question.
But, returning to the original focus of the question: Why is this thickness being questioned? What are the budget/time/resources available to his project team and WHY are these resources beng spent? How many times will this problem be faced, and in how many different configurations (what combinations of pipe wall, pipe material, pipe diameter, bend radius, and bend angle) will this problem be faced?) If there is only one bend, test that configuration properly and be sure. An FEA model will only tell you how accurate the program "thinks" its answer is after x number of iterations with a cube size of y and material properies of wxyz, but that answer has nothing to do with realty.
The tone of the original question doesn't appear to warrant assuming that questioner is facing a situation where determining the presence (or absence!) of a 1/100 of a millimeter (a few 1/1000 of an inch) in a pipe wall bent into a 90 (?? - how far is he concerned?) will affect the operable pressure in his system.