title: Fatigue life estimation procedures for the endurance of a cardiac valve prosthesis: stress/life and damage-tolerant analyses.
abstract: Projected fatigue life analyses are performed to estimate the endurance of a cardiac valve prosthesis under physiological environmental and mechanical conditions. The analyses are conducted using both the classical stress-strain/life and the fracture mechanics-based damage-tolerant approaches, and provide estimates of expected life in terms of initial flaw sizes which may pre-exist in the metal prior to the valve entering service. The damage-tolerant analysis further is supplemented by consideration of the question of "short cracks," which represents a developing area in metal fatigue research, not commonly applied to data in standard engineering design practice.
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013997:Time Factors