Development of Software for Thermomechanical Analysis and Design of Angiographic Catheters

A mathematical model of angiography catheters is developed in order to carry out parameter studies to determine the optimum combination of materials and geometric configuration for several different loading situations. The objective is to replace some of the expensive experimental trials currently used with the modelling studies. Analytical and finite element software packages are developed to study the thermomechanical behaviour of the catheters. Verification of the developed software and the finite element models is carried out. Closed-form solutions for in-line loading of the tubes are used to verify the developed software, which will be extended to deal with complex curved configurations in the future. Parameter studies on the effect of geometric characteristics on the ply stresses under the different loading situations are also carried out.