Topological Optimization of Auxetic Coronary Stents Considering Hemodynamics

This paper is to design a new type of auxetic metamaterial-inspired structural architectures to innovate coronary stents under hemodynamics via a topological optimization method. The new architectures will low the occurrence of stent thrombosis (ST) and in-stent restenosis (ISR) associated with the mechanical factors and the adverse hemodynamics. A multiscale level-set approach with the numerical homogenization method and computational fluid dynamics is applied to implement auxetic microarchitectures and stenting structure. A homogenized effective modified fluid permeability (MFP) is proposed to efficiently connect design variables with motions of blood flow around the stent, and a Darcy-Stokes system is used to describe the coupling behavior of the stent structure and fluid. The optimization is formulated to include three objectives from different scales: MFP and auxetic property in the microscale and stenting stiffness in the macroscale. The design is numerically validated in the commercial software MATLAB and ANSYS, respectively. The simulation results show that the new design can not only supply desired auxetic behavior to benefit the deliverability and reduce incidence of the mechanical failure but also improve wall shear stress distribution to low the induced adverse hemodynamic changes. Hence, the proposed stenting architectures can help improve safety in stent implantation, to facilitate design of new generation of stents.