Computer Modeling of Endovascular Devices and Use Conditions for Design Reliability

Endovascular stent grafts, which are used to treat aortic aneurysms, consist of stent rings attached to membrane-like graft material. The stent graft is delivered using catheter-based technologies. The use conditions for both delivery system and stent grafts vary from patient to patient posing a significant design challenge. Therefore, to ensure design reliability, computer modeling is used to simulate a series of boundary conditions on these components.

Several cases will be discussed including numerical modeling and fatigue characterization of Nitinol for stent rings, vessel-tissue modeling and its interaction with the stent graft, and simulated-use model development to evaluate the performance of delivery catheters.