Repeated unit cell (RUC) approach for pure bending analysis of coronary stents |
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Authors: | Feng Ju Chuwei Zhou |
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Institution: | 1. University of Alberta, Department of Mechanical Engineering , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , T6G 2G8;2. College of Aerospace Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics , 29 Yudao Street, Nanjing, 210016, People's Republic of China |
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Abstract: | Flexibility is one of the key properties of coronary stents. The objective of this paper is to characterize the bending behaviour of stents through finite element analysis with repeated unit cell (RUC) models. General periodic boundary conditions for the RUC under the pure bending condition are formulated. It is found that the proposed RUC approach can provide accurate numerical results of bending behaviour of stents with much less computational costs. Bending stiffness, post-yield bending behaviour and the relationship between moment and bending curvature are investigated for Palmaz–Schatz stents and stents with the V- and S-shaped links. It is found that the effect of link geometry on the bending behaviour of stent is significant. The behaviour of stents subjected to cyclic bending is also investigated. |
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Keywords: | stent bending flexibility repeated unit cell periodic boundary conditions finite element analysis |
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