title: An Efficient Finite Element Framework to Assess Flexibility Performances of SMA Self-Expandable Carotid Artery Stents.
abstract: Computer-based simulations are nowadays widely exploited for the prediction of the mechanical behavior of different biomedical devices. In this aspect, structural finite element analyses (FEA) are currently the preferred computational tool to evaluate the stent response under bending. This work aims at developing a computational framework based on linear and higher order FEA to evaluate the flexibility of self-expandable carotid artery stents. In particular, numerical simulations involving large deformations and inelastic shape memory alloy constitutive modeling are performed, and the results suggest that the employment of higher order FEA allows accurately representing the computational domain and getting a better approximation of the solution with a widely-reduced number of degrees of freedom with respect to linear FEA. Moreover, when buckling phenomena occur, higher order FEA presents a superior capability of reproducing the nonlinear local effects related to buckling phenomena.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), Università di Pavia , Pavia 27100, Italy. mauro.ferraro@iusspavia.it.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), Università di Pavia , Pavia 27100, Italy. auricchio@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Ferdinando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Auricchio
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), Università di Pavia , Pavia 27100, Italy. elisa.boatti@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boatti
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau 91128, France. scalet@lms.polytechnique.fr.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scalet
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), Università di Pavia , Pavia 27100, Italy. michele.conti@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering (DIII) , Università di Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy. simone.morganti@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morganti
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), Università di Pavia , Pavia 27100, Italy. alessandro.reali@unipv.it.|Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 2a, 85748 Garching, Germany. alessandro.reali@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reali
keywords: carotid artery stents; finite element analysis; shape memory alloys; stent flexibility