Remote work: Aircraft noise implications, prediction, and management in the built environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly changed workplace management. Most workplaces have adopted the work-from-home policy to minimize the risk of community spread. Consequently, housing estates remain largely occupied during office hours. Since some housing estates are situated in the vicinity of an airport, noise pollution resulted from the takeoff and landing of aircraft is now more noticed by residents, causing annoyance. This problem would be most acute for those located directly under the flight path. Before the pandemic, such aircraft operations had lower effect on the residents because most of them were not at home but at workplaces. Evidently, it is timely that more emphasis should now be placed during urban planning to predict and minimize aircraft noise in the built environment. This article first defines the aircraft noise metrics commonly used to assess environmental impact. Preceded by an overview of how aircraft noise affects the built environment, this article reviews how various aircraft noise prediction models have been used in urban planning. Lastly, this article reviews how aircraft noise can be managed for better acoustic comfort of the residents. Anticipating the adoption of hybrid work arrangement moving forward, this article aims to provide urban planning professionals with an avenue to understand how aircraft noise can negatively affect the built environment, which, in turn, justify why prediction and management of aircraft noise should be emphasized from the outset of urban planning.

Simulated Bench Testing to Evaluate the Mechanical Performance of New Carotid Stents.

Our group recently developed a novel covered carotid stent that can prevent emboli while preserving the external carotid artery (ECA) branch blood flow. However, our recent in vitro side-branch ECA flow preservation tests on the covered stents revealed the need for further stent frame design improvements, including the consideration to crimp the stent to a low profile for the delivery of the stent system and having bigger cells. Hence, the current work aims to design new bare metal stents with bigger cell size to improve the crimpability and to accommodate more slits so that the side-branch flow could be further increased. Three new stent designs were analyzed using finite element analysis and benchmarked against two commercially available carotid stents in terms of their mechanical performances such as crimpability, radial strength, and flexibility. Results indicated that the new bare metal stent designs matched well against the commercial stents. Hence our new generation covered stents based on these designs can be expected to perform better in side-branch flow preservation without compromising on their mechanical performances.

Covered Stent Membrane Design for Treatment of Atheroembolic Disease at Carotid Artery Bifurcation and Prevention of Thromboembolic Stroke: An In Vitro Experimental Study.

In this study, a polymeric membrane has been designed and developed for carotid stents to prevent detachment of emboli from the arterial wall and subsequent stroke, while maintaining side-branch flow. Prototypes of different geometrical design parameters have been fabricated and their performance has been evaluated in vitro under physiological pulsatile flow condition in a life-size silicone anastomotic model of carotid artery bifurcation. These evaluations include both quantitative and qualitative experimental (in vitro) assessments of emboli prevention capability, side-branch flow preservation, and flow visualization. The covered stents with the novel membrane demonstrated significantly higher emboli prevention capability than the corresponding bare nitinol stent as well as some earlier related designs, while preserving more than 93% of the original flow of the external carotid artery (ECA). Flow in the ECA through these covered stents was uniform without evidence of undesirable flow recirculation or retrograde flow that might predispose the vessel wall to intimal thickening and atherosclerotic plaque formation. This study demonstrated the potential of these novel covered stent designs for the treatment of carotid atherosclerotic stenosis and prevention of late embolic stroke. However, further in vivo investigations of biological effects and mechanical performance of this covered stent design (e.g., its thrombogenicity potential and biocompatibility) are warranted.

Has percutaneous aortic valve replacement taken center stage in the treatment of aortic valve disease?

Modern biomedical advances have propelled percutaneous valve replacement into an effective and powerful therapy for many heart valve diseases, especially aortic valve stenosis. Experiences so far suggest that outcomes for new percutaneous valve replacement surgery compare favorably with that of traditional valve surgery in selected patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. The inception of percutaneous aortic valve replacement (PAVR) began in 1992 when the potential for treating valve diseases was demonstrated through a modern technique of endoluminal deployment of a catheter-mounted crimped stented heart valve in an animal model. The first successful demonstration of such novel technique of surgical replacement of a heart valve was performed in 2002, when valve implantation in a patient with aortic stenosis was reported. Despite initial stumbles and a perception of being an uphill task, PAVR has emerged as one of the breakthroughs in surgical procedures. More than 1500 citations were found in PubMed, half of which were available after 2011. This is primarily because more than 50,000 procedures are being performed in more than 40 countries worldwide, with encouraging outcomes, and several stented valves have been launched in the market. This review provides a detailed analysis of the current state of the art of PAVR. Moreover, a competitive landscape of various devices available in the market and their design considerations, biomaterial selections, and overall hemodynamic performance are presented.

Haemodynamic changes in visceral hybrid repairs of type III and type V thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms.

The visceral hybrid procedure combining retrograde visceral bypass grafting and completion endovascular stent grafting is a feasible alternative to conventional open surgical or wholly endovascular repairs of thoracoabdominal aneurysms (TAAA). However, the wide variability in visceral hybrid configurations means that a priori prediction of surgical outcome based on haemodynamic flow profiles such as velocity pattern and wall shear stress post repair remain challenging. We sought to appraise the clinical relevance of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses in the setting of visceral hybrid TAAA repairs. Two patients, one with a type III and the other with a type V TAAA, underwent successful elective and emergency visceral hybrid repairs, respectively. Flow patterns and haemodynamic parameters were analysed using reconstructed pre- and post-operative CT scans. Both type III and type V TAAAs showed highly disturbed flow patterns with varying helicity values preoperatively within their respective aneurysms. Low time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS) and high endothelial cell action potential (ECAP) and relative residence time (RRT) associated with thrombogenic susceptibility was observed in the posterior aspect of both TAAAs preoperatively. Despite differing bypass configurations in the elective and emergency repairs, both treatment options appear to improve haemodynamic performance compared to preoperative study. However, we observed reduced TAWSS in the right iliac artery (portending a theoretical risk of future graft and possibly limb thrombosis), after the elective type III visceral hybrid repair, but not the emergency type V repair. We surmise that this difference may be attributed to the higher neo-bifurcation of the aortic stent graft in the type III as compared to the type V repair. Our results demonstrate that CFD can be used in complicated visceral hybrid repair to yield potentially actionable predictive insights with implications on surveillance and enhanced post-operative management, even in patients with complicated geometrical bypass configurations.

Reconstruction of Composite Stiffness Matrix with Array-Guided Wave-Based Genetic Algorithm.

Accurate measurement of the material parameters of composite in a nondestructive manner is of great significance for evaluating mechanical performance. This study proposes to use a genetic algorithm (GA) to reconstruct the stiffness matrix of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) with array-guided wave (GW)-based GA. By comparing the numerically calculated GW dispersion curves with the experimental wave number-frequency contour calculated with a two-dimensional Fourier transform (2D-FFT), the matching coefficient is directly obtained as the objective function of the GA, avoiding the overhead of sorting out the respective GW modes. Then the measured stiffness matrix with tensile testing and the longitudinal wave in the unidirectional CFRP is compared with the reconstructed parameters from unidirectional, cross-ply, and quasi-isotropic CFRPs with the GA. For the four independent parameters, excluding C12, an average value of 11.62% for the maximum deviation is achieved among the CFRPs with three stacking sequences, and an average deviation of 11.03% in unidirectional CFRPs is achieved for the parameters measured with different methods. A further correction of fiber orientation results in a relative deviation of only 2.72% for the elastic modulus along the tensile direction, and an expansion of the GW frequency range for the GA narrows down the relative deviation of C12 to 3.9%. The proposed GW-based GA opens up a way of in situ and nondestructive measurement for the composite stiffness matrix.

A novel coating method to reduce membrane infolding through pre-crimping of covered stents - Computational and experimental evaluation.

A covered stent has been used to treat carotid artery stenosis to reduce the chance of embolization, as it offers improved performance over bare-metal stents. However, membrane infolding of covered stents can affect efficiency and functionality for treating occlusive disease of first-order aortic branches. In order to mitigate the degree of infolding of the stent once it was re-expanded, we proposed a new coating method performed on the pre-crimped stent. A systematic study was carried out to evaluate this new coating technique: a) in vivo animal testing to determine the degree of membrane infolding; b) structural finite element modeling and simulation were used to evaluate the mechanical performance of the covered stent; and c) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to evaluate hemodynamic behavior of the stents and risk of thrombosis after stent deployment. The degree of infolding was substantially reduced as demonstrated by the in vivo deployment of the pre-crimped stent compared to a conventional dip-coated stent. The structural analysis results demonstrated that the membrane of the covered stent manufactured by conventional dip-coating resulted in a large degree of infolding but this could be minimized by our new pre-crimped coating method. CFD studies showed that the new coating method reduced the risk of thrombosis compared to the conventional coating method. In conclusion, both simulation and in vivo testing demonstrate that our new pre-crimped coating method reduces membrane infolding compared with the conventional dip-coating method and may reduce risk of thrombosis.

Nanoparticles-reinforced poly-l-lactic acid composite materials as bioresorbable scaffold candidates for coronary stents: Insights from mechanical and finite element analysis.

Current generation of bioresorbable coronary scaffolds (BRS) posed thrombogenicity and deployment issues owing to its thick struts and overall profile. To this end, we hypothesize that the use of nanocomposite materials is able to provide improved material properties and sufficient radial strength for the intended application even at reduced strut thickness. The nanocomposite formulations of tantalum dioxide (Ta2O5), L-lactide functionalized (LA)-Ta2O5, hydroxyapatite (HA) and LA-HA with poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) were evaluated in this study. Results showed that tensile modulus and strength were enhanced with non-functionalized nanofillers up until 15 wt% loading, whereas ductility was compromised. On the other hand, functionalized nanofillers/PLLA exhibited improved nanofiller dispersion which resulted higher tensile modulus, strength, and ductility. Selected nanocomposite formulations were evaluated using finite element analysis (FEA) of a stent with varying strut thickness (80, 100 and 150 µm). FEA data has shown that nanocomposite BRS with thinner struts (80-100 µm) made with 15 wt% LA-Ta2O5/PLLA and 10 wt% LA-HA/PLLA have increased radial strength, stiffness and reduced recoil compared to PLLA BRS at 150 µm. The reduced strut thickness can potentially mitigate issues such as scaffold thrombosis and promote re-endothelialisation of the vessel.

Piezoelectricity in Structural Adhesives and Application for Monitoring Joint Integrity via Guided Ultrasonic Waves.

In an adhesively bonded structure, utilizing the adhesive itself for monitoring the joint integrity can be beneficial in reduction of labor, time, and potential human errors while avoiding problems associated with introduction of a foreign sensor component. This work started from the examination of effective piezoelectricity of commercial structural adhesives/sealants, and five of them were found to possess effective piezoelectric property, with effective piezoelectric coefficient d33 from -0.11 to -1.77 pm/V depending on frequency under substrate clamping condition. With stable piezoelectric response at least up to megahertz, an epoxy adhesive with inorganic filler was selected for structural health monitoring (SHM) feasibility demonstration via generating or sensing guided ultrasonic Lamb waves. The presence of disbond in the adhesive joint is detectable by comparing the Lamb waves signal with a reference baseline signal associated with an intact structure. The results show that the selected adhesive with piezoelectric response can perform the dual roles of structural bonding and ultrasonic joint integrity monitoring.

Non-anatomical placement adversely affects the functional performance of the meniscal implant: a finite element study.

Non-anatomical placement may occur during the surgical implantation of the meniscal implant, and its influence on the resulting biomechanics of the knee joint has not been systematically studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical effects of non-anatomical placement of the meniscal implant on the knee joint during a complete walking cycle. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses of the knee joint were performed, based on the model developed from magnetic resonance images and the loading conditions derived from the gait pattern of a healthy male subject, for the following physiological conditions: (i) knee joint with intact native meniscus, (ii) medial meniscectomized knee joint, (iii) knee joint with anatomically placed meniscal implant, and (iv) knee joint with the meniscal implant placed in four different in vitro determined non-anatomical locations. While the native menisci were modeled using the nonlinear hyperelastic Holzapfel-Gasser-Ogden (HGO) constitutive model, the meniscal implant was modeled using the isotropic hyperelastic neo-Hookean model. Placement of the meniscal implant in the non-anatomical lateral-posterior and lateral-anterior locations significantly increased the peak contact pressure in the medial compartment. Placement of the meniscal implant in non-anatomical locations significantly altered the tibial rotational kinematics and increased the total force acting at the meniscal horns. Results suggest that placement of the meniscal implant in non-anatomical locations may restrain its ability to be chondroprotective and may initiate or accelerate cartilage degeneration. In conclusion, clinicians should endeavor to place the implant as closest as possible to the anatomical location to restore the normal knee biomechanics.

In situ disbond detection in adhesive bonded multi-layer metallic joint using time-of-flight variation of guided wave.

Adhesive bonded joints are frequently adopted in structural applications. The adhesive aging, low quality of surface preparation, as well as the exposure to external harsh environment and loading, may degrade the quality of adhesive, leading to disbond and decrease of the interfacial strength of the bonded joints. This study addresses both numerical and experimental investigations of ultrasonic guided wave (UGW) propagating in adhesive bonded metallic waveguide, whereby disbond detection is realized based on variation of the wave arrival time of UGW. First the dispersion curves of UGWs in both intact (bonded) and disbonded joints are obtained via the Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) method, and are grouped into mode pairs of phase velocity match and mis-match, respectively. Then a model combining SAFE and Frequency Domain Finite Element (SAFE-FDFE) is developed to enable excitation of any UGW of desired single mode-frequency combination and analysis of the wave interaction with disbond. The obtained results indicate that the UGW Mode 2 generated at the low frequency range of the mis-matched group shows a good sensitivity to disbond, featuring variation of the wave arrival time induced by mode conversion. Finally, Time Domain Finite Element and a proof-of-concept experiment, with comb transducers to act as both in situ actuators and sensors made of PVDF sheets embedded into the adhesive layer, well validate the results obtained via SAFE-FDFE. The selected mode-frequency combination Mode 2 at 0.52 MHz for wave time-of-arrival-based disbond detection, compared with conventional signal-amplitude-based disbond indicator using high frequency UGWs (~several MHz), merits the advantages of better controllability of wave excitation, less wave attenuation, and higher robustness.

Nanoglass-based balloon expandable stents.

Here, a prototypical metallic nanoglass is proposed as a new alloy for balloon expandable stents. Traditionally, the stainless steel SS 316L alloy has been used as a preferred material for this application due to its proper combination of mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. Recently, metallic glasses (MGs) have been considered as promising materials for biodevice applications. MGs often display outstanding mechanical properties superior to those of conventional metallic alloys and overcome some of the weaknesses of SS 316L, such as radiopacity, stainless steel allergy, and thrombosis-induced restenosis. However, commonly used monolithic MGs, which have an amorphous homogeneous microstructure, suffer from lack of ductility that is necessary for deployment of balloon expandable stents. In contrast, nanoglasses, that is, amorphous alloys with heterogeneous microstructure, exhibit enhanced ductility which makes them promising materials for balloon expandable stents. We evaluate the feasibility of a prototypical Zr64 Cu36 nanoglass with a grain size of 5 nm for balloon expandable stents by performing finite element method modeling of the stent deployment process in a coronary artery. We consider the BX-Velocity stent design and the nanoglass mechanical properties calculated from atomistic simulations. The results suggest that nanoglasses are suitable materials for balloon expandable stent applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 108B:73-79, 2020.

Thoracic aorta stent grafts design in terms of biomechanical investigations into flexibility.

The present study aimed to design and optimize thoracic aorta stent grafts (SGs) based on the influence of geometric parameters on flexibility and durability. Five geometric parameters were selected, including strut height, strut number, strut radius, wire diameter, and graft thickness. Subsequently, 16 finite element (FE) models were established with an orthogonal design consisting of five factors and four levels. The influences of a single factor and all the geometric parameters' influence magnitude on the device flexibility were then determined. The results showed that all the other parameters had an opposite effect on global and local flexibility except for the wire diameter. The graft thickness exhibited the most remarkable impact on the global flexibility of SGs, while the strut radius influenced flexibility slightly. However, for the local flexibility analysis, the graft thickness became the least significant factor, and the wire diameter exerted the most significant influence. The SG with better global flexibility can be guided easily in the tortuous vessels, and better local flexibility improves the sealing effect between the graft and aortic arch. In conclusion, this study's results indicated that these geometric parameters exerted different influences on flexibility and durability, providing a strategy for designing thoracic aorta SGs, especially for the thoracic aortic arch diseases.

Measurement of the Luminal Diameter of Peripheral Arterial Vasculature in Yorkshire×Landrace Swine by Using Ultrasonography and Angiography.

To select animals of appropriate size for preclinical studies of cardiovascular devices, reference knowledge of the cardiovascularanatomy relative to body weight is crucial. We measured the luminal diameters of the arteries (carotid, femoral, and iliac arteries) that are the common access vessels for endovascular and vascular procedures in Yorkshire×Landrace swine. Measurements were performed by using both ultrasound and angiographic methods and were correlated with body weight. Results showed no statistically significant difference between the left and right vessels in the diameters of the carotid,femoral, and iliac arteries. The diameters of the measured arteries showed high correlation with animal weight in pigs thatweighed less than 70 kg.

A finite element simulation method to evaluate the crimpability of curved stents.

Stenting of curved arteries is more challenging than straight vessels. There has been an increasing need for new techniques to treat lesions in highly curved locations. One generic idea is to use curved stents to treat lesions in such curved locations. Computational modeling of straight stent crimping which is being used to evaluate the structural performance of the stents has been done vastly in the past. However, there has not been much simulation work on crimping of curved stents due to the challenges associated with applying the boundary conditions. Here we propose a new method to crimp a curved stent to a smaller diameter by incorporating a simple algorithm to generate the required boundary conditions supplementing the finite element (FE) code. To achieve this, a curved crimper is modeled and used to apply crimping loading on the curved stent evaluate its crimpability. Our method provides a simple yet very useful tool which can be implemented in finite element packages to simulate crimping of curved stents using curved crimpers. This method can also be used to expand balloon expandable stents by inflating curved balloons.

Design and evaluation of the crimping of a hooked self-expandable caval valve stent for the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation.

To design a hooked self-expandable caval valve stent and determine the best crimping scenario for its percutaneous implantation in the Superior and Inferior Vena Cava (SVC & IVC) for the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation (TR). A hooked, Nitinol based stent design was modeled using SOLIDWORKS and finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out using ABAQUS. The Nitinol material used in this study was modeled in ABAQUS as superelastic-plastic. Two cases were simulated. In case A, the stent model was crimped to 18 F by compressing the stent main body and then: (i) bending both the proximal and distal hooks; (ii) straightening the proximal hooks and bending the distal hooks. In case B, the stent model was crimped to 18 F by: (i) bending the proximal and distal hooks and then compressing the stent main body; (ii) straightening the proximal hooks and bending the distal hooks and then compressing the stent main body. The maximum strain after crimping was used to evaluate the best crimping scenario. Hook straightening produced strains of 10.7% and 10.96% as opposed to 12.6% and 13.0% produced by hook bending. From comparison of results of both cases simulated, it was found that straightening the hooks gave lower strain and thus was the best crimping procedure. The analysis performed in this paper may help understand the critical issue of crimpability of the new stent design. The best crimping scenario can be found based on finite element modeling and simulation. Identifying the best crimping way will also help the design team to optimize the delivery system that will eventually be used to deploy this caval valve stent.

Hemodynamic analysis of a novel stent graft design with slit perforations in thoracic aortic aneurysm.

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has been introduced as a less invasive approach to the treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA). However, the effectiveness of TEVAR in the treatment of TAA is often limited due to the complex anatomy of aortic arch. Flow preservation at the three supra-aortic branches further increases the overall technical difficulty. This study proposes a novel stent graft design with slit perforations that can positively alter the hemodynamics at the aortic arch while maintaining blood flow to supra-aortic branches. We carried out a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis to evaluate flow characteristics near stented aortic arch in simplified TAA models, followed by in-vitro experiments using particle image velocimetry (PIV) in a mock circulatory loop. The hemodynamics result was studied in terms of time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS), oscillating shear index (OSI), and endothelial cell action potential (ECAP). The results showed that the stent graft with slit perforations can reduce the disturbed flow region considerably. Furthermore, the effect of the slits on flow preservation to the supra-aortic branches was simulated and compared with experimental results. The effectiveness of the stent graft with slit perforations in preserving flow to the branches was demonstrated by both simulated and experimental results. Low TAWSS and elevated ECAP were observed in the aortic arch aneurysm after the placement of the stent graft with slits, implying the potential of thrombus formation in the aneurysm. On the other hand, the effects of the stent grafts with full-slit design and half-slit design on the shear stress did not differ significantly. The present analysis indicated that not only could the stent graft with slit perforations shield the aneurysm from rupture, but also it resulted in a favorable environment for thrombus that can contribute to the shrinkage of the aneurysm.

Optimization of a Novel Preferential Covered Stent through Bench Experiments and in Vitro Platelet Activation Studies.

Bare metal stenting (BMS) does not adequately address the atheroembolic characteristic of carotid artery stenosis. While simple covered stents (CS) may prevent dislodged fragments of the atherosclerotic plaque from entering the blood stream, they also block blood flow into the major branches of the artery alongside the lesion, which is not desirable. Preferential covered stents (PCS) behave as a covered stent in a tubular part of a vessel but maintain side-branch flow over the bifurcation region by means of slits in the membrane. Stent design, membrane material, and slits configuration are the three main components contributing to stent performance. Optimization of PCS designs was conducted and tested. METHODS: A newly designed BMS was developed and compared to a commercially available peripheral stent. Two materials (expanded poly(tetrafluoroethylene)) and silicone polyurethane co-polymers (Elast-eon E2A) were used as stent coverings with slits applied using various cutting methods to form the PCS. These PCS samples were tested for physical resilience, flexibility, ability to preserve side-branch flow, slit edge roughness, and platelet activation. RESULTS: Fabrication of E2A-coated stents required pretreatment of the stent with poly(ethylene glycol) to achieve firm attachment. The newly designed BMS with nine crowns design and larger cell size showed higher flexibility than commercially available stents. A combination of a larger stent cell size, E2A membrane coating, and three slits per stent cell unit configuration resulted in preserved side-branch flow similar to physiological conditions in the flow experiment. Slit edge roughness changed with different cutting methods and laser machine cutting parameters. In vitro studies showed platelet activation was minimal with lower slit edge roughness samples. CONCLUSION: An optimized PCS prototype was developed consisting of a newly designed stent, E2A membrane, and a three-slit pattern created by specific femtosecond laser cutting.

A Critical Review on Metallic Glasses as Structural Materials for Cardiovascular Stent Applications.

Functional and mechanical properties of novel biomaterials must be carefully evaluated to guarantee long-term biocompatibility and structural integrity of implantable medical devices. Owing to the combination of metallic bonding and amorphous structure, metallic glasses (MGs) exhibit extraordinary properties superior to conventional crystalline metallic alloys, placing them at the frontier of biomaterials research. MGs have potential to improve corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, strength, and longevity of biomedical implants, and hence are promising materials for cardiovascular stent applications. Nevertheless, while functional properties and biocompatibility of MGs have been widely investigated and validated, a solid understanding of their mechanical performance during different stages in stent applications is still scarce. In this review, we provide a brief, yet comprehensive account on the general aspects of MGs regarding their formation, processing, structure, mechanical, and chemical properties. More specifically, we focus on the additive manufacturing (AM) of MGs, their outstanding high strength and resilience, and their fatigue properties. The interconnection between processing, structure and mechanical behaviour of MGs is highlighted. We further review the main categories of cardiovascular stents, the required mechanical properties of each category, and the conventional materials have been using to address these requirements. Then, we bridge between the mechanical requirements of stents, structural properties of MGs, and the corresponding stent design caveats. In particular, we discuss our recent findings on the feasibility of using MGs in self-expandable stents where our results show that a metallic glass based aortic stent can be crimped without mechanical failure. We further justify the safe deployment of this stent in human descending aorta. It is our intent with this review to inspire biodevice developers toward the realization of MG-based stents.

Feasibility of using bulk metallic glass for self-expandable stent applications.

Self-expandable stents are widely used to restore blood flow in a diseased artery segment by keeping the artery open after angioplasty. Despite the prevalent use of conventional crystalline metallic alloys, for example, nitinol, to construct self-expandable stents, new biomaterials such as bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are being actively pursued to improve stent performance. Here, we conducted a series of analyses including finite element analysis and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the feasibility of using a prototypical Zr-based BMG for self-expandable stent applications. We model stent crimping of several designs for different percutaneous applications. Our results indicate that BMG-based stents with diamond-shaped crowns suffer from severe localization of plastic deformation and abrupt failure during crimping. As a possible solution, we further illustrate that such abrupt failure could be avoided in BMG-based stents without diamond shape crowns. This work would open a new horizon for a quest toward exploiting superior mechanical and functional properties of metallic glasses to design future stents. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1874-1882, 2017.