Chapter 64: Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body

Stent Analysis with Growing

64 Rigid Body


Summary 1199

Introduction 1200

Modeling Details 1200

Solution Procedure 1203

Results 1204
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Modeling Tips 1206
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List of Input File(s) 1206
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Video 1207
 CHAPTER 64 1199
Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body

Summary
Title Chapter 64: Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body
Features • Case 1 – Expansion of stent simulating the deployment step
• Case 2 – Recoil of deployed stent simulating spring back
Geometry

• Stent dimensions:
• Internal radius: 0.92 mm; Thickness of wire: 0.08 mm; Length: 6.96 mm
• Rigid cylinder dimensions:
• Radius: 0.92 mm; Length: 7.00 mm
Material properties • Elastic-plastic material (Stainless steel SS316)
• E = 2.9E+07 N/mm2,  = 0.28 , with yield stress y = 2.05 N/mm2, Plasticity modulus
(slope) 3.2E+05 N/mm2.
Analysis characteristics Step-1: Stent expanded through rigid cylinder with 3 times growth factor.
Step-2: Stent analyzed for spring back by shrinking of rigid cylinder
Boundary conditions For step-1 and step-2, the stent is arrested for rigid body motion
Applied loads For step-1 and step-2, expansion is through radial growth of rigid cylinder
Element type • 8 node solid brick element
• Springs for arresting rigid body motion
FE results • Deformed shape
• Stress plot
• Spring-back deformed shape and residual stresses
1200 MD Demonstration Problems
CHAPTER 64

Introduction
A key feature of the table-driven growth/shrink of rigid bodies functionality is that the rigid body could be made to
change its shape in addition to translation and rotation (transformation). The evolution of growth/shrink can be
controlled by table driven input with time as independent variable which makes this functionality indispensable for
certain kind of analyses. This feature is illustrated with a typical balloon-expanded stent analysis as an example.
A stent is a small hollow metallic wire mesh which is placed in choked coronary arteries to help keep them distended
to ensure sufficient flow of blood. A stent, the key element of such a treatment – called angioplasty – is inserted and
placed into the artery in crimped state by means of a catheter and are deployed by means of balloon. The deployment
is done by expanding the balloon such that the stent undergoes plastic deformation to dilate the clogged artery and
holds it from constricting.
This problem illustrates the deployment and recoil (spring back) steps of the stent analysis. The deformation of balloon
is ignored and is replaced by a rigid growing/shrinking cylinder. In the deployment step, the cylinder is expanded such
that the radius grows three times its original size. And in the recoil step, the cylinder is shrunk to 1.5 times of its
original size.

Modeling Details
A simple stent of internal radius of 0.92 mm with wire thickness 0.08 mm and length 6.96 mm is modeled and meshed
with 8 node brick elements. The mesh contains 1014 brick elements, 4 spring elements and 4913 nodes. A rigid
cylindrical surface of 1.0 mm internal radius and 7.0 mm long is modeled which simulates the balloon.
The finite element mesh of the beam-plate structure with the rigid cylinder is shown in Figure 64-1.

Figure 64-1 Stent with Internal Expanding Rigid Cylinder

 CHAPTER 64 1201
Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body

Element Modeling
The stent is modeled with lower-order solid brick elements (CHEXA). The non-linear extension is activated by using
the PSLDN1 property option in conjunction with the regular PSOLID property option in the manner shown below.
.
.
.
$!
CHEXA 1303 1 1 14 15 2 2807 2820+
+ 2821 2808
CHEXA 1304 1 2 15 16 3 2808 2821+
+ 2822 2809
CHEXA 1305 1 3 16 17 4 2809 2822+
+ 2823 2810
CHEXA 1306 1 4 17 18 5 2810 2823+
+ 2824 2811
.
.
.
.
PSOLID 1 1 PSOLID_1
PSLDN1 1 1 1 PSOLID_1
.
.
.
For the spring elements, which are used for arresting the rigid body motion, CELAS2 input is used as shown below.
.
.
.
$!
CELAS2 2605 1. 5405 1 3196 1 0.0 0.0BC_sprin
CELAS2 2606 1. 5405 1 2832 1 0.0 0.0BC_sprin
CELAS2 2607 1. 5405 1 2978 1 0.0 0.0BC_sprin
CELAS2 2608 1. 5405 1 3122 1 0.0 0.0BC_sprin
$!
.
.
.

Material Modeling
The stent which is generally made of Stainless steel (SS316) is modeled with isotropic, elastic-plastic material using
the MAT1 and MATEP options. The elasticity modulus is taken as 2.9E+07 N/mm2 with the Poisson’s ratio as 0.28.
The yield stress is taken as 205 N/mm2 with the plastic modulus as 3.2E+05 N/mm2.
.
.
.
MAT1 1 2.9E+7 0.28 SS316
1202 MD Demonstration Problems
CHAPTER 64

MATEP 1 Slope 205. Vmises Isotrop Addmean 320000. SS316

.
.
.

Loading and Boundary Conditions

The stent is constrained to prevent rigid body motion through spring elements as shown in Figure 64-2.

Figure 64-2 Loading and Boundary Conditions of Stent

The central node is fixed which is connected to specific peripheral nodes through spring elements. And two sets of
selected peripheral nodes at one end of the model are arrested for movement in different directions such that the rigid
body rotations about all the three axes are arrested as shown.
.
.
SPC1 1 123456 5405
SPC1 2 12 2832 3196
SPC1 3 1 2978 3122
.
.
The stent is modeled as a deformable contact body and the rigid cylinder is modeled as a rigid contact body using
respective BCBODY entries. The rigid body growth factor is specified in a table for the y and z components such that
the radius of the cylinder enlarges and then shrinks with time.
.
.
TABLED1 1 LINEAR LINEAR +
+ 0.0 1. 1. 2. ENDT
TABL3D0 1 1 1 0
+ 0.0 1. 1. 3. 2. 2.
 CHAPTER 64 1203
Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body

.
.
BCBODY 1 3D DEFORM 2 0.0 0
BCBODY 101 3D RIGID 1 -1+
+ +
+ GROW 1 1 +
+ RIGID 1 Rigid_1 +
NURBS -7 2 4 2 50 50 6
-1.2 0.0 -0.92 -1.2 -1.84 -0.92
-1.2 -1.84 0.92 -1.2 0.0 0.92
.
.
The TABLED1 entry is used for defining the table of growth factor with respect to time. As can be seen, the growth
factor is set as 1.0 at time=0.0 units; 3.0 at time=1.0 units and 2.0 at time=2.0 units. The total time of analysis is 2.0
units.
.
.
.
$ Contact Table: BCTABLE_1
BCTABLE 1 1 +
$ Pair: STENT / RIGID_CYL
+ SLAVE 1 +
+ MASTERS 101
$! SX Names for Materials
.
.
The BCTABLE entry is used to define the contact pair properties.

Solution Procedure
The SOL400 nonlinear procedure is employed, the parameters of which are defined through the following
NLSTEP entry:

.
.
.
NLSTEP 1 2. +
+ GENERAL 200 -10 +
+ FIXED 200 10 +
+ MECH UPWV 0.01 0.1 0.1PFNT
.
.
.
The NLSTEP keyword is followed by the identification number entry and by the total time of the analysis which is 2.0
in this case.
1204 MD Demonstration Problems
CHAPTER 64

The second line gives the general stepping parameters associated with the analysis. The keyword FIXED defines the
fixed time stepping procedure which is followed by the parameters viz. total number of steps followed by the intervals
in which output is sought.
The keyword MECH stands for a mechanical analysis appended with the parameters such as flags for convergence
criteria selection followed by the error tolerance for displacement, load and work respectively. UPWV stands for
convergence criteria checking with respect to displacement, load and work. The PFNT character parameter stands for
“Pure Full Newton Raphson” which is the method for controlling stiffness updates. The selection of optimum
convergence criteria is critical in an analysis as contact-intensive as this analysis. Though the minimum model
dimension is 0.08 mm, a liberal displacement criterion of 0.01 is chosen for faster convergence, but ensuring accuracy
by a relatively strict load and work criteria of 0.1 and 0.1, respectively.
The parameter LGDISP is set to 1, enabling the treatment of differential stiffness accounting large displacement effects.
The strain formulation flag GNLSTN is set to 1 signifying Green strain. And the nonlinear material option of LRGSTRN
is set to 1 signifying the usage of “Hypo-elasticity and additive plasticity with mean normal return” large strain
formulation.
.
.
.
PARAM LGDISP 1
MDLPRM GNLSTN 1
NLMOPTS LRGSTRN 1
.
.

Results
The nonlinear equivalent stress is plotted over the displaced stent at the end of expansion in Figures 64-3 and 64-4.
The undeformed stent is shown for comparison in Figure 64-3.
 CHAPTER 64 1205
Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body

Figure 64-3 Nonlinear Equivalent Stress Plot on Deformed Mesh at End of Expansion (time = 1.0) with
respect to the Undeformed Mesh – Front View

Figure 64-4 Nonlinear Equivalent Stress Plot on Deformed Mesh at the End of Expansion (time = 1.0) –
Isometric View
1206 MD Demonstration Problems
CHAPTER 64

The nonlinear equivalent stress is plotted over the displaced stent at the end of recoil in Figure 64-5. It can be noticed
that the residual stresses are predominant near the joints.

Figure 64-5 Nonlinear Equivalent Stress (Residual Stress) Plot on Deformed Mesh at the End of Recoil
(time = 2.0) – Isometric View

Modeling Tips
It is to be noted that the stent nodes enters and leaves contact often during this contact intensive analysis. The
specification of the distance tolerance and the bias factor can largely influence the duration of analysis. Moreover,
during the shrink operation it can be noticed that the stent is relatively free to move and is restrained only by the soft
springs provided for arresting rigid body motion. This does not affect the real scenario where is stent normally clings
on to the blood vessel.

List of Input File(s)

Files Description
nug_64.dat MD Nastran input for “Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body”
 CHAPTER 64 1207
Stent Analysis with Growing Rigid Body

Video
Click on the image or caption below to view a streaming video of this problem; it lasts approximately 48 minutes and
explains how the steps are performed.

Figure 64-6 Video of the Above Steps